skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Performance Monitoring of Residential Hot Water Distribution Systems

Abstract

Current water distribution systems are designed such that users need to run the water for some time to achieve the desired temperature, wasting energy and water in the process. We developed a wireless sensor network for large-scale, long time-series monitoring of residential water end use. Our system consists of flow meters connected to wireless motes transmitting data to a central manager mote, which in turn posts data to our server via the internet. This project also demonstrates a reliable and flexible data collection system that could be configured for various other forms of end use metering in buildings. The purpose of this study was to determine water and energy use and waste in hot water distribution systems in California residences. We installed meters at every end use point and the water heater in 20 homes and collected 1s flow and temperature data over an 8 month period. For a typical shower and dishwasher events, approximately half the energy is wasted. This relatively low efficiency highlights the importance of further examining the energy and water waste in hot water distribution systems.

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1172649
Report Number(s):
LBNL-6946E
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Conference
Resource Relation:
Conference: 2014 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings, Pacific Grove, CA
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; Monitoring, performance monitoring, hot water distribution systems

Citation Formats

Liao, Anna, Lanzisera, Steven, Lutz, Jim, Fitting, Christian, Kloss, Margarita, and Stiles, Christopher. Performance Monitoring of Residential Hot Water Distribution Systems. United States: N. p., 2014. Web.
Liao, Anna, Lanzisera, Steven, Lutz, Jim, Fitting, Christian, Kloss, Margarita, & Stiles, Christopher. Performance Monitoring of Residential Hot Water Distribution Systems. United States.
Liao, Anna, Lanzisera, Steven, Lutz, Jim, Fitting, Christian, Kloss, Margarita, and Stiles, Christopher. 2014. "Performance Monitoring of Residential Hot Water Distribution Systems". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1172649.
@article{osti_1172649,
title = {Performance Monitoring of Residential Hot Water Distribution Systems},
author = {Liao, Anna and Lanzisera, Steven and Lutz, Jim and Fitting, Christian and Kloss, Margarita and Stiles, Christopher},
abstractNote = {Current water distribution systems are designed such that users need to run the water for some time to achieve the desired temperature, wasting energy and water in the process. We developed a wireless sensor network for large-scale, long time-series monitoring of residential water end use. Our system consists of flow meters connected to wireless motes transmitting data to a central manager mote, which in turn posts data to our server via the internet. This project also demonstrates a reliable and flexible data collection system that could be configured for various other forms of end use metering in buildings. The purpose of this study was to determine water and energy use and waste in hot water distribution systems in California residences. We installed meters at every end use point and the water heater in 20 homes and collected 1s flow and temperature data over an 8 month period. For a typical shower and dishwasher events, approximately half the energy is wasted. This relatively low efficiency highlights the importance of further examining the energy and water waste in hot water distribution systems.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1172649}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Aug 11 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Mon Aug 11 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}

Conference:
Other availability
Please see Document Availability for additional information on obtaining the full-text document. Library patrons may search WorldCat to identify libraries that hold this conference proceeding.

Save / Share: