Company Develops Microwave-powered Water Heater

dponce80 writes "Pulsar Advanced Technologies has announced that, starting next week, they will launch the MK4, a microwave-powered on-demand water heater. Why is this cool? Well, until now, you had two options: electric heaters that keep a large amount of water hot at all times, or natural gas heaters that heat up water on-demand. The first is very costly and wasteful, and the second is not available to everyone, especially those in rural areas. You can't heat water up quickly enough with conventional resistance-based electric elements, as it would require huge amount of electricity. Not so with microwaves. The Vulcanus MK4 can heat water from 35 degrees Fahrenheit to 140 degrees Fahrenheit in seconds and can source multiple applications at once: showers, dishwasher, sink usages and more. The Globe and Mail has an article with a little more information."

ooooh

[tonywong]

Another fine product from Wayne Enterprises Military Division...

that's more like it

[theshowmecanuck]

Now I can have a long hot shower in 30 seconds.

Pssh

[doxology]

From a company with "Pulsar" in its name, I would have expected them to use gamma radiation.

The real question is...

[Anonymous Coward]

Why in the world is a new product developed by anybody other than Google?

Re:Kill germs too?

[Kadin2048]

Just think if they heated the water using a critical-sized lump of plutonium -- then it would both heat and irradiate your water! For maximum germ killing power. And it wouldn't just be 'on demand' hot water, it would be hot water all the time whether you want it or not.

Plus it would be emission free, and a great use of all those Soviet ICBM warhead initiators that are just sitting around, going to waste.

Just don't turn off the cold water supply....ever.

Re:Actually...

[MidnightBrewer]

Most people in Japan have tankless water heaters, which makes sense in a country with a dearth of space and great surpluses of energy. It's just about the coolest thing ever; the element is heated in just a few seconds, and after that it's warm for as long as you care to shower. Combined with the automated bathtub courtesy of Osaka Gas, that fills itself and announces when it's ready in an attractive female voice, and I can't imagine ever going back.

Re:Kill germs too?

[Supurcell]

I'm sure in 1985, plutonium is available at every corner drugstore, but in 2005 it's a little hard to come by.

Re:I Think I Have One Already

[s-orbital]

I used to have one of these too, until it comitted suicide
http://photos.klassica.com/microwave [klassica.com]

Re:using a microwave vs. normal heat

[TheDugong]

Boil t'kettle.

Well, actually, when I was a poor student we did without heating and hotwater because we had a heating shower and boiled the kettle when we did the washing up (once... no, twice... maybe it was only once?).

Re:Actually...

[Anonymous Coward]

Does it also say, "I am honored to receive your waste!"

Re:Pssh

[Anonymous Coward]

My microwave oven is a Pulsar and I tell you I never seen an oven like it... I can burn a Chicken Patty if I put it in there more than 60 seconds. If the directions say 4 Min at high my Microwave only has to be on for 1 min 30 seconds.

 

The British, Great Innovators....

[Budenny]

The British, great innovators and world leaders in matters of plumbing, as all visitors know, have invented something interesting on this subject.

Its stated in the article that there are two methods.

Method 1 is to heat water and store it and draw it off as needed. In the UK this is usually done with the aid of one massive tank in the roof, to store the cold water for the hot water store. And a second, to store the cold water for the working fluid, which is used to heat the water in the water store. And then of course, there is a third tank, in which the actual hot water itself is stored.

Are you with us so far?

Well, there is a variant on this method, which consists of having a mains fed hot water store. The advantage of this method is that you no longer need tanks in the roof. The disadvantage is that if this tank, which is under pressure, ever blows up, it takes the house with it. A very small chance however.

Method 2 is to heat it on the way through, either by gas fire in a heat exchanger, or by running it over a hot resistive electric heater. In this case you do not have all those hot and cold water stores in your roof space and closets.

British heating engineers have invented a third way. This interesting method has the great merit of being even more more complicated than the multiple tanks in your roof. In this method, you first circulate the working fluid through a tank of hot water, thus heating it up via a heat exchanger. But you do not bathe in this!

No, you draw cold water in a second heat exchanger through that hot water. In this way you have the benefits of both of the first two systems. You have a constant store of hot water in your closet, and two cold water storage tanks in your roof. And, you get to have hot water on demand heated up for you when needed. And as compared to the variant on method 1, you get to have mains pressure hot water, without having a pressurized tank anywhere in the house.

It is very surprising that this system has never been exported.

Re:bad science = fun

[djmurdoch]

The thing is, that holds true for any way you try to heat water by electricity, including microwave, not just "resistance-based" heating.

No, no, no, you don't understand. Heat from microwaves is *more efficient heat*. It's like the difference between LEDs and incandescent light bulbs. The LEDs output almost all their energy as light, whereas the incandescent bulbs output light, but they also waste a lot of energy output generating heat.

Water heaters are just the opposite. The resistance based ones are basically just big light bulbs. They heat the water, but they also output tremendous amounts of light, which is completely wasted. (You can't see the light because you don't use transparent pipes, do you?)

The microwave water heaters only output heat (and a little bit of interference with your Wifi network). That's why they're more efficient.

Re:Kill germs too?

[schon]

put a glass in the microwave some time, or a piece of plastic. it will get hot.

Well duh - that's because they're made out of water!

Didn't you study Aristotle [kheper.net] in school?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare for my job as a science teacher in Kansas.

Re:Kill germs too?

[vertinox]

Just think if they heated the water using a critical-sized lump of plutonium --

Yeah, but slow down if you are a contractor beware when driving on the highway with one of these in the back of your truck. If you hit 88mph you will see some serious shit [imdb.com].

Re:ooooh

[spammyd]

why stick to microwaves, I say we use all the spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors, right now they are sitting around heating up water on barrels, i say use gamma rays to heat up your water, and its free

Yet another proof...

[uradu]

...that conventional storage water heaters are a religion. I have rarely seen so much energy and emotion expended as their adherent do to fight the evil that is tankless water heaters.