A COMPANY has invented a way to help households reduce their hot water bill by 90 per cent.
A COMPANY has invented a way to help households reduce their hot water bill by 90 per cent. Magic Thermodynamic Box, arenewable energy company, hasdeveloped and manufactured asystem by which heat taken fromthe environment is pumped intothe hot water cylinder in a house,heating water 24 hours a day.Called the Little Magic Box, itis one of a number of productssold by the Chelmsford-basedcompany.But it is the most recent product,complete with patent, whichwas invented by former Colchesterresident Scott Styles, whonow lives in Hockley.Mr Styles explained: “I havecaptured the concept of a fridge,but in reverse.“Through the Little Magic Boxwe can harvest the heat in theenvironment and put it into thehot water cylinders.”The technology of thermodynamicshas been around formany years.Mr Styles came across the termin 2010 and became intrigued.He said: “What I learned wasthere is no such thing as cold. It’sjust a sensation.“But there are degrees of heatand cold is caused by an absenceof the heat. Once I understoodthat concept, I looked at how afridge works.“Fridges use thermodynamicprinciples, but take the heat energyout. The fridge feels coldinside, but if you feel behind it,it’s warm.”The Little Magic Box works byattaching an aluminium panel toanywhere on the outside of ahouse. For older, listed properties,they can be attached insidethe loft or attic space.The heat taken from the environmentis then transferred tothe box, which is attached to thehot water cylinder. The box livesin the airing cupboard and MrStyles claims it can reduce ahousehold’s hot water bill by 90per cent.He said his “eureka” momentfor the box’s potential came whenhe discovered a way to retrofitthe boxes to hot water systems.Mr Styles explained: “Thereare 23 million cylinders ofhot water in the UK and ifwe could retrofit the box,then potentially all householdscould have one.”He turned to AlistairSmit, managing director ofthe Magic ThermodynamicBox, for his business acumenand, with the help ofpatent expert JamesSanderson, theysecured a patenton the product14 months ago.It was manufacturedabroad, but since last Octoberthe manufacturing was moved toMaldon, where Calorex in theCauseway not only makes theproduct under licence, but helpswith product development andimprovements.The Little Magic Box isnow in its third incarnation,with eachnew launch bringingsomethingNew and more efficientto the system.The latestversion waslaunched earlierthis month. “This is an educationsellingproduct,” said Mr Styles. “Withoutexplaining what it is andwhat it does, people won’t knowanything about it.”The box is being sold throughboiler companies and distributors,while an export agreementhas been reached with distributorsin Slovakia, Italy andGreece. There has also beeninterest from China and Australia.“We have completed 5,000orders so far and because we area small company it’s all abouteducating the market.”The firm will take a stand atthe Ecobuild fair at ExCel in Londonin March and at Germany’sIntersolar Fair in June, theworld’s largest renewable energyfair.Mr Styles added: “The possibilitiesfor this product are endless.”