Cooking stew, soup, noodles, pasta, rice, many kinds of food preparation involve heating water, for curries or sauces for example, hot coco, tea, coffee, water even heated at oil refineries for cooking petroleum, in water heaters at homes for laundry machines, dish washers, to take warm or hot showers with to clean up the sweat from working out or just scrub off the old dead cells from living if you don't take a shower every day. I often think about how our cheap GEVI espresso machine use s heating block to heat the water before the vibratory pump forces water though the block & into the group-head where the coffee grinds filled bottomless basket mounted such that hot pressurized water forced though the basket produces espresso into my coffee mug, a wide mouth mug to capture the irregular water output of the bottomless basket. I have also resorted to pulsing in 1-3 second bursts to address this issue. I could use the pressurized basket that came with the unit to get more precision output, but I love the all stainless steel interface of the aftermarket bottomless basket kit, no plastic, its easier to clean precisely, it looks dope, it feels amazing and well made with a heaviness that is so satisfying to click into the group head, feeling the gasket as I firm it into place, slowing the rotation to a stop with a deeply satisfying resistance, indicating a good seal that means a quality pressurized extraction without leaks :)
We rent the basement of a home with a natural gas water heater in the garage. It have a huge high BTU boiler setup with natural gas flows into a solenoid controlled pressure regulator, then to a computer ring that burns the natural gas in air under the water tank with a central flue that also transfers heat to the water before the hot combustion emission gasses exit the top into a galvanized steel exhaust system that route the hot exhaust gas to the outside world. Air for combustion from the garage, so oxygen depleted, but leaking air into the garage replaces it. The 96% efficiency furnace has an air pipe where it takes in outside air for combustion, then a counter flow heat exchanger to preheat the air with exhaust heat to raise combustion efficiency, a blower forces compressed air with the natural gas, so the fame blue white for ultra high efficiency combustion with low emissions, where even the carbon soot produced from primary combustion undergoes rapid secondary combustion such that the emissions are very clean. Heating water & air with natural gas costs about 4X less than doing so with electricity, with local utility prices.
Propane, butane, isobutane, mixes thereof, I am able to blend gases fuels using refill devices into smaller cans from larger cans. I warm the bigger gas canister or mother that distributes fuel into the chilled daughter smaller container, that way the fuel condenses into the smaller container more effectively. These fuel are for our outdoor barbecue, our camping stove & backpacking stove. During power outages our electric 240v 40 amp stovetop oven does not work & our tiny Honda EU2000 can only sustain 2000 watts peak for 30 seconds, with nominal continual output of 1600 watts max, the ECO throttle can dim the output to conserve gasoline all the way down to 250 watts to load match, but this is not enough to heat water & we use it to backup our fridge, & when the fridge compressor not working, we use it to power a 1500 watt electric space heat. Our camping stove takes 8 oz butane cartridges, we use it with a pot of filtered water when the grid power out, to heat water for cooking, tea & coffee.
Our smallest stove made of titanium, folds up into something you can easily hold inside a closed hand, weighs less than 25 grams, screws into the top of a Iso-butane can, & must be lit with a match or lighter as it has no piezo spark ignition. Our barbecue use as 4.6 gallons or 20lb propane tank made of white painted mild steel with a brass regulator valve, and this is the mother tank that I distribute propane into smaller 16 oz propane tanks, or from the 16 oz propane tank into the smaller 8 oz butane cans, or into the even smaller ISO butane cans, therein enabling mixing of fuels. I am very careful when doing this, with lots of practice and experience and a perfect safety record so far thank god :) I keep a fire extinguisher nearby in case something goes wrong.
Ours cars, motorcycle, scooter, all feature water cooled fuel injected engines. Our little Honda EU2000 is air cooled & carburetor fueled & its exhaust emissions smell terrible as a result, like burned HC from an antique car tailpipe, fuel vapor but toasted smell, it runs rich fuel air mixes to keep cooler while a force air cooling system blows past the aluminum fins of the block & heat to keep it cooled properly which extends the life of the stationary engine, noting the generator not moving when its operated nearby during power outages. I run it outside, with the exhaust routed away from the covered patio which keeps rain off the generator, then use concrete blocks to further reduce sound emissions while routing and blending the exhaust gas away from the patio where wind can further dilute it, that way the patio does not accumulate smelly emissions. Power send through a 12/3 heavy insulation extension cable 25 ft long through a gap wide enough for it in the patio slider door, then white duct tape used to cover the gap inside & out to prevent air flow & seal up the cable interface so only the cable enters & exists, bringing power inside from the generator outside.
I mention water cooled engines because they use water cooling instead of air cooling, & water cooling superior to air cooling, but engines heat this coolant mixture up to 186 F or 192 F, not boiling but hot. So ICE vehicles common are heating water, not to cook or to make tea or coffee, but to keep the engine cool. I pie in the sky idea to divert block of exhaust heat into the cabin into a cabin water heater for cooking, tea or coffee making inside the car, so you can make a warm beverage on the go :) Obviously the cost of correctly safely taking heat from the exhaust header or engine block & sending it into the cabin in insulated hoses to a smaller copper tube heat exchanger to heat an isolated loop of clean water for human consumption to cook with or to make coffee or tea :) I always like the idea of waste heat recovery, like heat recovery ventilator that heat incoming cool fresh air from outside with warm stale outgoing air, with cleaver heat exchangers & blowers and pipes, that reduce heating utility energy costs while keeping indoor air quality better. I like the idea of routing shower water, hot runoff, through an interior radiator pipe in the floor to create gentle heating of the floor in cold locals where that would be beneficial. I like the idea of capture exhaust heat from the furnace & water heater, to further heat indoor air more efficiently. In vehicles the idea of converting engine waste heat or exhaust heat to charge hybrid batteries seems promising if fuel prices high enough to justify such applications of existing technologies.
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