Turns out: nothing really.
My apartment building gives me free water but I pay for electricity. What if I run the faucet nonstop and rig up a hydro turbine in my bathtub to generate my power from it?
Submitted 1 day ago by cosmOS@lemmy.zip to showerthoughts@lemmy.world
Comments
Cevilia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 22 hours ago
samus12345@sh.itjust.works 19 hours ago
Nice to know that someone already did the math (the monster math!)
Crashumbc@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
That’s a really stupid way to do it, you connect the water turbine directly to the faucet. Why water all the tap water pressure.
Hacksaw@lemmy.ca 19 hours ago
You didn’t read past the first paragraph.
you can just hook the faucet up to your device, and let the water pressure drive the generator directly. In either case, for a bathtub faucet, this works out to almost 200 watts, or $25 per month
LodeMike@lemmy.today 1 day ago
You’d be an asshole.
VitoRobles@lemmy.today 1 day ago
An asshole to whom exactly? A landlord?
luciferofastora@feddit.org 1 day ago
To the people their arbitrage would harm because it would result in the landlord ending the free water provision. If you abuse a good thing, even the most good-natured people eventually get fed up and stop providing it, to the detriment of those who used it fairly.
NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net 1 day ago
Think of it this way; 70% of the planet is water. Of that water only 2.5% is fresh water, 68% of that is held in glaciers. About 1% of the fresh water on earth is liquid.
That 1% is the absolute maximum quantity of what’s used for drinking, and the steps between ground/reservoir water and the tap in your home involve MASSIVE quantities of electricity and effort to make it so it won’t kill you.
What you’re suggesting doing is turning the tap on and sending that fresh drinkable water right back into the sewer to generate a miniscule amount of power, since the average tap pressure at 1 bar means you’ll be making sub 100W of power, hardly enough to power the big light in your kitchen if it’s got more than two incandescent bulbs or spotlights, let alone a kettle or a microwave.
87Six@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
He’d be an asshole because he’d need loads of water he would waste
ieGod@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Depends. If you’re in a metropolitan city modern condo, there’s a good chance water is provided for all by the condo corp. The condo corp pays the city and adjusts the yearly budgets accordingly, which are then used to determine condo fees. So indirectly every resident pays for the water.
Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Droughts
IWW4@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
You would be that asshole who ruined it for everyone else.
YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 1 day ago
Not to mention considering most water pressure in… well, any country. They may be able to charge their phone and run a lamp at best.
No tv, no water heater, no fridge, no ac or heat, no white noise fans to fall asleep to.
fuzzzerd@programming.dev 1 day ago
Wth water running 24/7 there’s no need for a white noise machine any more, just listen to the water.
IWW4@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
That is a very good point.
BeardededSquidward@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
If they don’t punish you specifically they’ll punish everyone with you.
melsaskca@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
This is a great comment. Only January and this is my comment of the year (so far).
EpicFailGuy@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Most apartments with water included in the rent price (Sorry kids, there’s no such thing as “free water”) closely monitor their usage on a per building or floor basis. Whenever they detect irregularities they schedule inspections with the tenants to check for things like leaking toilet valves and such.
“free water” just means that they’ve calculated the cost of installing the meters and additional plumbing and determined that monitoring global usage and including it in the price of rent is cheaper.
Source: I have water included in my rent, I pay about $50 more a month than a similar apartment without.
LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
When I moved to Tennessee a few years back I looked all over trying to figure out where our gas bill was. Water/electric/sewage/internet, I actually got through one company now which is kinda neat, but our heater is natural gas, and I haven’t been billed for it yet, which never makes sense to me. I keep wondering if the management company just covers it or something, but I should see a usage bill I would figure somewhere…
Small towns don’t manage much though. They came by to do an inspection a couple months ago and I was like oh shit, they had not stopped by since I moved in back in 2021. (Guess a new management company absorbed them). I’ve got a chicken coop and put chicken wire up around about 1,000+ square foot and I was wondering what they were going to say about it. They never ended up even going out back. Next year’s problem I guess.
ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
I bought a house two years ago and had a plumber come out to install a new water heater. He asked me where the water meter and I had to say “fuck if I know”. He said lots of people just let their water account lapse and then remove the meter and tap directly into the water line in the street and get free water. He assumed that the previous owner of my house had done this; I was pondering whether this was a bad thing or not when he found the actual water meter out in the yard under a metal cover. Good news? Probably not – it turns out my house water is supplied by a very cheap independent local water authority, but they had to go into bankruptcy along with the city and apparently some Saudis are planning to buy it to provide water to grow alfalfa for their racehorses.
PeachMan@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Oh shit, mine gives me free heat…I could just strap a Stirling engine to my radiator!
Psaldorn@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Or peltier modules
nandeEbisu@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
For high rises, why not stick a turbine on the outlet for waste water at the bottom of the building? You’ve already spent the energy to pump it up dozens of floors why not recoup some of it when it falls back down?
db2@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Think harder next time. They’ll be able to figure out that you’re not filling an Olympic sized pool every week and water/sewer use that excessive is gonna be a breach of contract aka eviction.
Lumidaub@feddit.org 1 day ago
What if I live in a country with renter-friendly laws where landnobility can’t just kick out their tenants but have to give them opportunity to correct their behaviour? And also there is a reason that right now eludes me why my landnobleperson or anyone else won’t be checking water consumption for the foreseeable future?
db2@lemmy.world 1 day ago
If they’re paying the water bill they’re going to know.
Flax_vert@feddit.uk 1 day ago
You’ll be using less water than an AI data centre
DoubleDongle@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Also consider running cold water through some sort of radiator if you want free AC
ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 1 day ago
Not all places have cold water during summer (did the greedy water company already run a heat exchange there?)
This would work but don’t use a conventional central heating radiator system: moisture would condense on the radiators and pipes, potentially causing wet floors and walls, and eventually mold. A radiator that deals with moisture well is an indoor AC unit, plus it has a fan, thermostat and remote control, and presumably they’re cheap to get when the more complicated outdoor unit fails. Just pump water through the coolant pipes! (Don’t get an overly smart one or it will complain about lack of communication with the outdoor unit. Or hack it if you’re good at that.)
Alternatively, an air-to-water heat exchanger (heat pump whose condenser is submerged and evaporator is a conventional indoor AC unit) is way more practical. With cold water, it will use very little electricity and has all the convenience of AC. The output water can be used as preheated feed into your boiler.
HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 day ago
i have cold water in the ground, but once it gets to the roof pipes it heats up fast in the summer. we’ve got them insulated but not insulated enough. i keep arguing with the landlord to let me go up there and put some pool noodles around them. so if you’re in the part of the house that gets its water from roof pipes, in the summer sometimes the hot water comes out colder than the cold (that pipe already has a pool noodle around it don’t get me started)
MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Stupid question.
NOT a shower thought.
Aeri@lemmy.world 1 hour ago
OP is a dipshit verbatim ripping off an XKCD video no way in hell they came up with it themselves BTW.
MimicJar@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
I feel pretty confident they were in the shower when they thought about this question.
ripcord@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
It may not be the kind you like but it (most likely) meets the community rules.
possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 9 hours ago
You monster
gravitas@pie.gravitywell.xyz 1 day ago
Well I can say from experience that your landlord won’t be happy, but as long as it doesnt say a limit in your lease there’s nothing they can do about it.
CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Their ain’t a lease in the country that doesn’t give a complex the right to toss you out for generic reasons.
And you could waste your time in court, but you’d lose.
Scrollone@feddit.it 1 day ago
Also, “unlimited” contracts always have a clause where they can block you if you misuse the service or use way more than an acceptable quantity.
Trigger2_2000@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Best fucking idea ever!
If you ever get free gas too, I have an idea for a wind turbine.
X@piefed.world 1 day ago
Free gas? You (and nearly everyone else on earth) are walking around in and breathing loads of it right now.
Trigger2_2000@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Some apartments have natural gas including with the price of rent.
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
pretty sure there’s an old copypasta about this or something
j4k3@piefed.world 1 day ago
Unlikely, but if any main power lines run past your walls or floor where they are regularly carrying substantial current, you can probably use a wire coil to light an led or something.
stiffyGlitch@lemmy.world 1 day ago
what he said ⬇
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Here ya go:
Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Sure but there wouldn’t be enough power, especially if you need things like AC.
Fondots@lemmy.world 1 day ago
You’re thinking too small: water cool your apartment
db2@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The water can even directly drive the fan!
Brkdncr@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Evaporative air coolers only need enough power to run the fan.
fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Unless you live in a desert, or some other area where added humidity is a bonus then “swap coolers” are doing more harm than good.
kossa@feddit.org 1 day ago
Fill the water in bottles behind your generator and sell it at cheaper rates to folks who pay for their water…even more profit!
roguelazer@lemmy.world 1 day ago
what-if.xkcd.com/91/
cosmOS@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
And here I thought I was being clever. Thanks for sharing! That was great.
chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
lol
Lumidaub@feddit.org 1 day ago
I am DELIGHTED
cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Love this article, but they kinda bury the lede making the Coca-cola joke about bottling and selling water.
Most bottled water you buy in stores is, in fact, tap water. If you think they’re getting it from a mountain spring, even if there’s a mountain on the label, you would be mistaken. You wouldn’t want mountain water (with bear piss) anyway, the water you buy bottled is filtered and treated. It’s good tap water, but it’s still tap water. So next time your water bottle runs out, just refill it from the tap. Assuming your tap water is potable and doesn’t taste like shit.
wonderingwanderer@sopuli.xyz 14 hours ago
That’s only correct if it’s labeled as “purified water.” If it says “spring water,” then it came from a mountain spring.
The thing about being bottled at the source, is that it’s upstream from all the “bear piss.”
teft@piefed.social 1 day ago
I grew up drinking mountain spring water. It’s way better than “bear piss”. Filtered and treated doesn’t mean better. Some natural water from springs is perfectly fine.
VicksVaporBBQrub@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Wow. I never thought of bottling and selling water.
Was surprised xkcd didn’t mention steam boiler turbines.
RelativeArea1@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
grue@lemmy.world 1 day ago
What does that have to do with water pressure? In that system, the energy comes from the heat.
Phoenix3875@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Why is it necessary for the water to go up and down to turn the turbine? Isn’t the pressure already added to the water and you can directly use it to drive a heavier turbine at ground level?
YoSoySnekBoi@kbin.earth 1 day ago