Wastewater Heat Recovery

We created the free Wastewater Heat Recovery collection at the end of last year, in response to the increasing global focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and the reduction of CO₂ emissions. Utilizing energy from human waste is a promising concept that we believe will become increasingly popular and widely adopted.

It’s another project brought to our attention by Ben Drake from Rushing Co. We’ve done a couple of collections working with Ben in the past, so feel free to check them out here! (link)

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Wastewater Heat Recovery

Much like most heat reclaim, the process involves a heat exchanger or heat pump where a coil is used to absorb heat from the source liquid. In standard water-to-water heat pumps, that source will be mechanical water, whereas in these families, the source is wastewater.

Not to get too bogged down in the details, but just think about the temperature of human waste, which is just flushed down the toilet instead of being repurposed. Double that figure if it's a Wednesday morning (the morning after Taco Tuesday). They are a great way to make your building greener at a low cost. There isn’t a single building that couldn’t benefit from this concept because it doesn’t have a wastewater or drain system. Even the Death Star must have toilets or showers.

SHARC Energy Heat Pumps

From manufacturer SHARC Energy we have heat pumps based on the residential PIRANHA model. The standard PIRANHA is a specialized water-to-water heat pump that recovers energy directly from wastewater and uses this source of energy to produce hot water. The hot water produced through the unit is typically used for potable domestic hot water (DHW) purposes; however, it can also be used for hydronic heating or alternate hot water demand purposes. The Piranha HC model also offers a cooling circuit. Both families have six types contained in the type catalog, which are defined by the voltages and heating capacities that range between 60 and 180 kBtu/h.

Heat Exchangers

The collection contains two heat exchangers to be used in more residential spaces. Their compact design makes them the perfect choice for waste water heat recovery in residential projects and some commercial buildings, such as hotels, where drain piping systems usually occur in confined spaces. From the manufacturer, EcoDrain, we have the B1000 heat exchanger. This family is intended to be used on horizontal drain pipework and has 14 types to account for the connecting drain pipe diameter and length of the heat exchanger

Our last family from the collection is the Thermodrain heat exchanger from EcoInnovation Technologies. A noteworthy difference from the previous exchanger is that this model needs to be installed within the drain stack—the vertical pipe. With over 20 types to suit drain diameter and length, our heat exchanger families can suit a large range of project needs and spatial limitations.

Images showing the Thermodrain heat exchanger in 2D and 3D visuals in various levels of detail.

Makeup

All of the families chosen today have been created as mechanical equipment. File size is always at the forefront of our decision-making. We always try to balance design, visual accuracy and project efficiency. With 2D geometry for plans and elevations, the families ensure a fast workflow for MEP coordination.

SHARC Energy HC heat pump in coarse, medium and fine levels of detail.

Developed in partnership with Ben Drake, BIM Manager at Rushing.

To bring you the best Revit content, we continue partnering with industry experts to identify the most relevant and useful products for our collections. Ben Drake is BIM Manager at Rushing, a ‘technology-driven off-site’ construction company based in Seattle.

If you work in a specialized industry and feel like the Revit families available to you are missing the mark, please let us know and we’ll see how we can help.

Of course, if you have questions or feedback on this collection, send us an email at support@kinship.io. We review all feedback carefully.

Get the Collection

Click here to view and download the full collection.

Collection Content List

1. Heating only wastewater heat pump from SHARC Energy.

2. Heating & Cooling wastewater heat pump from SHARC Energy.

3. Inline wastewater heat exchanger from EcoDrain.

4. Inline wastewater heat exchanger from EcoInnovation Technologies.