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Depression Era & 3rd World Hot Water Heaters

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Bret Cahill

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Nov 6, 2009, 11:35:14 PM11/6/09
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I heard about this third party but supposedly they would install a hot
water heater in your home that would only work when you inserted a
coin -- much like any coin vending machine. When you wanted to take a
hot bath you put in a penny. Maybe the meter reader or someone had a
key to the coin box and would pick up the coins once a month.

Before NAFTA I once rented a hotel room in Oxchuk, Chiapas for 70
cents. The room had hot water _if_ you scrounged around for some dry
wood, stuffed it into a fire box fitted with a couple bends of pipe
and set it on fire.

It actually worked quite well.


Bret Cahill


Ivan

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Nov 7, 2009, 4:31:59 AM11/7/09
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"Bret Cahill" <BretC...@peoplepc.com> wrote in message
news:f03c16b8-999f-45bd...@e4g2000prn.googlegroups.com...

Coin operated (nowadays replaced by electronic top up key) gas and
electricity meters have been available (mainly for use by lower income
families) in the UK for as far back as I can remember.

Falcon

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Nov 7, 2009, 4:57:40 AM11/7/09
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Ivan wrote:

The problem is that those forced to use them usually pay premium prices for
their fuel, or go cold and dark.

--
Falcon:
fide, sed cui vide. (L)

tg

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Nov 7, 2009, 8:16:25 AM11/7/09
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Or, you can have a demand/tankless heater that uses preheated-by-solar
water. If you want to have a cost feedback, equip every device in the
house with a transmitter that records usage to a central monitor. All
of this exists now but in the usual idiotically fragmented way that
impedes adoption.

-tg

Bret Cahill

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Nov 7, 2009, 2:55:34 PM11/7/09
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> > I heard about this third party but supposedly they would install a hot
> > water heater in your home that would only work when you inserted a
> > coin -- much like any coin vending machine.  When you wanted to take a
> > hot bath you put in a penny.  Maybe the meter reader or someone had a
> > key to the coin box and would pick up the coins once a month.
>
> > Before NAFTA I once rented a hotel room in Oxchuk, Chiapas for 70
> > cents.  The room had hot water _if_ you scrounged around for some dry
> > wood, stuffed it into a fire box fitted with a couple bends of pipe
> > and set it on fire.
>
> > It actually worked quite well.
>
> > Bret Cahill
>
> Or, you can have a demand/tankless heater that uses preheated-by-solar
> water. If you want to have a cost feedback, equip every device in the
> house with a transmitter that records usage to a central monitor.

Just put timers on the circuit breakers.

The default is _off_ instead of _on_.


Bret Cahill


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