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Old 12-11-2008, 06:51 PM   #3
Jnana
Avalon Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Indiana
Posts: 653
Default Re: Low cost heaters

RealView,

The first device (zinc rod in can with oil) appears to be using a chemical reaction between zinc and iron to produce heat (i.e., it's a short-circuited battery). Be prepared to buy a lot of zinc. Zinc is an excellent energy storage medium (more here). In order to evaluate this device, one would need to know how long the device produces x amount of heat from a given quantity of materials.

The second device (rotor with lots of holes making steam) is one I've seen before. For producing heat from mechanical energy, a heat pump is even MORE efficient than this device. A standard air-source heat pump can produce 3 to 4 times more heat energy out than mechanical energy in. Geothermal heat pumps are even better. According to the claim in the video, this device produce 1.7 times more heat energy out than mechanical energy in.

Last edited by Jnana; 12-11-2008 at 07:15 PM.
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