ᐅ Heat Recovery from Shower Water – Is It Worthwhile?

You can also turn back the clock. Taking a shower once a week is enough.

@HoisleBauer22 I’m not sure what you’ve been researching all day, but your questions so far focus on very minor details in construction. A good design (compact, minimal envelope surface, optimized thermal bridge management, correctly sized windows in the right locations, proper and adjustable shading, well-planned heat pump combined with photovoltaic system) will benefit you far more than things like shower drain heat recovery, demand-controlled ventilation by individual room, or obscure all-in-one compact units.

You are probably right, Hangman. After all, I am open to new optimization ideas that are not run-of-the-mill 🙂 . My next topic would then be the wall-mounted hybrid heat pump – and only to annoy you all ;-)

HoisleBauer22 schrieb:

While researching, I came across heat recovery systems for shower water (e.g., installed in the drain channel). Does anyone here use them?
It might be that the purchase and installation costs raise questions about their cost-effectiveness...

From an energy-saving perspective, these systems definitely make sense. Therefore, they are not only justified but also have a promising future. Whether they are already economically beneficial today, I cannot say—I remain skeptical.

A lot of heat is also lost to the air and hopefully recovered immediately through the ventilation system. I also wonder how cleaning such a system will work (hair, soap scum, grime, etc.). If dirt accumulates around any thin fins or tubes, the efficiency will decrease significantly...

I was waiting to see when the points would finally come up… In a rental property, it’s obviously different, as the water goes directly into the waste pipe and is gone. In a privately owned property, the water can sometimes run several meters through the heated building envelope and can transfer energy to it during that time, even without an additional heat recovery system in the wastewater line. When it comes to cleaning, it depends on what exactly has been installed.