Abstract:
A system that facilitates water conservation and energy savings for a residential dwelling or home is provided. The system will increase the efficiency with which water is consumed by implementing a reclamation system for reusing water for selected tasks. Energy savings are enabled by utilizing unique insulating materials that allow the climate of the interior of a home to be controlled in a more affordable manner as less fuel/energy is required to heat/cool the home&#39;s interior.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/589,816 filed Aug. 20, 2012, which claimed the benefit of the priority of provisional application No. 61/524,846, filed Aug. 18, 2011, the contents of which are all incorporated herein by reference thereto. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to residential dwelling and, more particularly, to conserving energy and water in a residential dwelling and the usage of a Hydra computer software program in designing a plumbing system that has unique capabilities with regard to a balanced plumbing system, integrally having unique fire suppression capabilities. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Prior Art 
         [0005]    Currently, mankind is dependent on fossil fuels which are not inexhaustible. Therefore, the search is on to find technologies that can maximize the available energy resources. Renewable energy sources are abundant but mechanisms to tap into this energy source are inefficient. 
         [0006]    Conservation of energy would greatly assist in reducing our need for fossil fuels. Renewable energy will not replace fossil fuels at the rate we are consuming. However, if the consumption of energy is lowered on an individual basis, renewable energy may become more viable because the supply of the renewable energy would then be able to sustain a house. At these reduced consumption levels existing renewable energies will work and will replace fossil fuels. 
         [0007]    As can be seen, there is a need for a residential dwelling that enables conservation of energy and water. 
         [0008]    Patent Application Publication Number 2008/0041364 of James R. Brock published on Feb. 21, 2008 for an Energy Efficient Building Design which discloses an energy efficient housing and to a method of providing an energy efficient housing wherein building material and house structure aim to provide a system effectively using external temperature for house needs. The house is built of multilayered blocks having layers of concrete and layer of mixture of concrete, cellulose fiber and sand surrounded with exterior and interior stucco finish layers prepared by a simplified process. The concrete layer has a plurality of air passages with baffles used for transferring of hot and cool air which change the temperature from the house walls and roof heated with sun radiation or cooled by cold outside air. The hot air is transferred to a hot air reservoir for further household needs and cool air is transferred to a cold air reservoir. 
         [0009]    This reference is deficient in that it references utilization of air exchanges to control the interior of a building environment which in and of itself leads to health hazards. It also doesn&#39;t control floor surface temperatures which is where people walk. It is highly inefficient and terribly uncontrollable. It is NOT a plumbing system of any kind and has absolutely nothing to do with moving fluids for heating or cooling. The capacities of this system in high desert applications are extremely limited leaving very unhappy occupants. 
         [0010]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,657 of William R. Donati issued on Apr. 18, 1995 for a Water recycling device for flush toilet use discloses a compact, modular gray water recycling system includes a control and reservoir unit for storing gray water, which is received from a source such as a sink drain, and is pumped to the household toilet as necessary. The single unit houses a pump, flow signals, filters, and an overflow, as well as a liquid level actuating device for signaling when the liquid level has fallen to below a designated level. The system also utilizes a second storage reservoir and a second control unit for adding gray water from the second reservoir to the control and reservoir unit in response to a signal indicating low water level therein. The secondary storage units may also be adapted to receive water from an outside source such a rainfall runoff. 
         [0011]    This reference is deficient in that it is not an integral part of the buildings plumbing reclamation system. It is also limited by the fact that untreated water becomes septic after 24 hours of being untreated and therefore by code is NOT allowed to be used in a UPC or IPC approved plumbing system interior to a building It is also deficient in that it is limited to flushing toilets. By definition this reference is included in the EPA Standard and Environmental Health standards and is in fact not a plumbing system for reclamation of water to used inside and outside of the building. This system does not recognize the uses applicable to a plumbing reclamation system. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0012]    An exemplary embodiment of a building architecture of the includes a plumbing system, a heating system and an insulation system. The plumbing system includes a reclamation tank for reusing water; and the heating system includes a solar panel system, a radiant floor and a heat exchanger; and the insulation system includes wrapping the house with insulating materials. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0013]      FIG. 1  is a schematic of an exemplary embodiment of a plumbing system of the invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 2  is a schematic view of an exemplary embodiment of a heating system of the invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 3  is a schematic view of an exemplary embodiment of a side of a home of the invention 
           [0016]      FIG. 4  is an exemplary embodiment of a layout of a house of the invention. 
           [0017]      FIG. 5  is an exemplary embodiment of a four port plumbing fitting #100 with plumbing piping #102 attaching to all four ports and interior to #100 four port body is a threaded receptacle. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The Best Mode of the Invention 
       [0018]    The following detailed description is of the best currently contemplated modes of carrying out exemplary embodiments of the invention. The description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention, since the scope of the invention is best defined by the appended claims. 
       How to Make the Invention 
       [0019]    Broadly, an embodiment of the present invention provides a system for managing water use and the climate of a home. The system integrates a plumbing based cold water and fire system and a plumbing waste system that reclaims water and enables a user to recycle that water for particular tasks and an insulation system for a home that enables a user to use much less fuel to heat/cool the home. The plumbing based cold water and fire system is also connected to the fire protection system as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,911 to Haase which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
         [0020]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , a schematic of the plumbing waste system is displayed. reclaimed-water from sinks and showers is fed into the system via  10 . An open ball valve  16  controls the flow of water to the bypass to the sewer  12 . A closed ball valve  18  controls the flow of water from 10 to the WL-55  26 . The WL-55  26  is a water reclamation system. Closed ball valve  18  regulates the flow of water to supply toilets  22 . A check valve  18  enables fresh water to pass through open ball valve  16  and fresh water bypass  24  for the toilets. Water to the drain to the sewer  30  is regulated by a closed ball valve  18 . 
         [0021]    The water-reclamation system treats the reclaimed water and purifies it so that it can be used for more than flushing toilets. The treated reclaimed water can be used to water plants. 
         [0022]      FIG. 2  is a schematic of a house with installed elements for regulating the heat in the house. The solar panels  46  are used in conjunction with the solar thermal heat exchanger  44  and the heat exchanger  42  to provide heat to the house. A pump  38  is connected to a boiler  36  to deliver a steady supply of water to the boiler  36 . The bypass  34  is also connected to the pump  38 . 
         [0023]      FIG. 3  is a schematic of a side of the building illustrating a wall, floor and a roof. The foundation  62  extends below the finish grade  60 . The insulation and exterior wall assembly  58  may include any exterior siding such as a stucco system  56 . 
       How to Use the Invention 
       [0024]    The insulation system completely wraps the house on the outside of the framing. The insulation is installed under the concrete floor of the slab, or the basement of the house if applicable. The insulation is also used to cover the top of the house, including the attic. The insulating material is made from expanded mylar coated polystyrene. This method of insulation completely envelopes the house, and eliminates all thermal bridging. Thermal bridging is a result of the way conventional homes are insulated. In a conventional home, insulation is put between the studs and roof joists before the exterior siding is put on. In conventional insulation the insulation is put between the top floor ceiling joist which leaves the attic area cold. The trouble with this method is that the wood joist contacts the outside siding and cold comes through the wood into the home. The insulation method of the invention prevents the wood joist from coming into contact with the cold. 
         [0025]    Additionally, since the insulation is attached to the outside of the framing, a different stud size can be used for the construction. The studs required with this new type of insulation coupled with the insulation technique are typically 2′.times.4″ studs in an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The conventional practices primarily utilize 2″.times.6″ studs to fit the insulation in. 
         [0026]      FIG. 4  illustrates the layout  64  of a house in an exemplary embodiment of the invention. The house features a bedroom  66 , a bath  68 , a master bedroom  70 , the kitchen  72 , a living room  74 , a utility room  76 , a toilet  78 , another bath  80 , a bathroom sink  82 , a kitchen dish washer  84 , a kitchen sink  86 , a washer  88 , a reclamation water tank  90  and discharge to the garden  92 . 
       How to Adapt the Invention to Modern Home Construction Methods 
       [0027]    The utilization of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), in various thicknesses, with Mylar facing in lieu of traditional building wrap materials, constitutes a unique way to construct an Energy Efficient Building Envelope. EPS material itself cannot be claimed, but the unique method and my copyrighted reports from Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratories show the uniqueness of the “results” of this methodology. In essence, by limiting thermal bridging the required energy for heating and cooling this home has been reduced. The significant reduction in energy requirements allows for a much smaller more efficient renewable energy source that is now affordable for the average person. Imagine a Styrofoam cup in your hand and someone is pouring boiling hot coffee into the cup. It does not adversely affect your hand. So current architecture would benefit from being wrapped in Expanded Polystyrene. The extreme heat of the desert southwest would not have as bad an effect on the building. It would be stopped from entering the building through thermal bridging. 
         [0028]    Utilizing the scientific data supplied by the manufacturer of the EPS, and having this data confirmed by Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratories, in conjunction with certain heating calculation software programs, this type of construction reduces energy requirements by a minimum of 50%. In some cases it has reduced energy requirements by 75%. The research home located at 4636 Piedras Street in Farmington N. Mex. is a good example. Another example is a home located at 503 Skyline in Elephant Butte N. Mex. 
         [0029]    Computer designed heating system, which when used in conjunction with our building design, requires less energy allowing for the installation of Solar Thermal Panels which utilize the suns radiant energy to heat fluids such as glycol, which when pumped through a heat exchanger assembly, gives off heat for domestic hot water usage such as, but not limited to, bathing, showering, laundry, etc. Due to the architectural design, the capabilities of the Solar Thermal System, include primary radiant floor heating, utilizing the same Solar Thermal Panels (see diagram). Utilization of Solar Thermal heating Panels for Domestic/Radiant primary heating/cooling systems make this type of system extremely affordable. 
         [0030]    The benefits of this Real Green Building System will reduce costly infrastructure for new sub-divisions by at least 50% for every municipality where they are utilized. The system eliminates the need for fire hydrants, fire stations and more importantly fire department personnel. 
         [0031]    The system will reduces personnel costs to each municipality by at least 50% in the Fire Services category. Personnel costs and retirement benefits cost will be greatly reduced. 
         [0032]    The usage of this system will reduce water infrastructure costs to the municipality by at least 50%. Water storage capacities will be cut significantly. Millions of dollars in taxpayer monies will be saved. 
         [0033]    The usage of this system will make Photo-voltaic energy producing systems affordable for every persons new home by lowering the energy needs by at least 50%. 
         [0034]    The living environment of each building created using this system will be healthier than a standard building. These buildings will cut health care costs from sick building syndrome significantly. An internal controlled healthy environment will result in lower health care costs. 
         [0035]    It should be understood, of course, that the foregoing relates to exemplary embodiments of the invention and that modifications may be made without departing from to spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.