geothermal chiller
- Thread starter Frankie1
- Start date
looser
New member
H20ENG - Thanks. Its not as much water as I thought either, although I have yet to really determine what it takes (see below). Although I do know for sure that 30GPH is more than enough to keep up with the heat load. In fact I might slow it down a little to try and exchange even more heat from the tank per gallon of cooling water (raise the output temp). I could also add some more hose and/or another length of titanium to increase the exposure/dwell time.
One little problem with my drain in a barrel plan. The drain in my tank room floor, which goes to a barrel in my basement, had a bottle cap fall into it at some point. It made a perfectly water tight seal in my drain. Needless to say the drain backed up into my tank room and flooded it and my basement. So. . . . . estimatimating water usage based on what I sucked up with my wet dry vac, about 30 gallons, I'm guessing I would use somplace between 60 and 100 gallons on average summer day to cool my tank.
With that said.... I relize my wet dry vac theory is probably not very scientific...so I guess I'll have to start my little experiment over again now that I removed the bottle cap.
Fun. . . Fun. . . Fun. . .
One little problem with my drain in a barrel plan. The drain in my tank room floor, which goes to a barrel in my basement, had a bottle cap fall into it at some point. It made a perfectly water tight seal in my drain. Needless to say the drain backed up into my tank room and flooded it and my basement. So. . . . . estimatimating water usage based on what I sucked up with my wet dry vac, about 30 gallons, I'm guessing I would use somplace between 60 and 100 gallons on average summer day to cool my tank.
With that said.... I relize my wet dry vac theory is probably not very scientific...so I guess I'll have to start my little experiment over again now that I removed the bottle cap.
Fun. . . Fun. . . Fun. . .
Barto
Alleged Lounge Moron
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7753450#post7753450 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by H20ENG
Just put hash marks on your basement wall, and then do the math when it gets to the first floor
Of course this thread will get moved to the large tanks forum:eek1: :lol:
looser
New member
Just checked my barrel. glad I did. Its about 4" from the top. So lets say 50 gallons since 3pm. So its averaging just under 10GPH with lights on. I guess thats more than I should be dumping in my septic system for no reason at all. . . . so fortunately (I guess) I have a sump pump in my basement that drains out to the street. I'll have to tie my heat exchanger drain into the dischare pipe of the sump pump. Or maybe theres a better use of the water. . .. hmmm.... on the other hand, if it only requires 10GPH to cool the tank I could slow down the flow to lets say 15GPH and extract more heat, therfore required even less water.
Heck if I slow it down enough maybe it will even start making water..... you guys are the ones that go me started.
Heck if I slow it down enough maybe it will even start making water..... you guys are the ones that go me started.
looser
New member
On second thought. I might be better off adding more pipe rather than slow down the flow. I probably could slow the flow somewhat, but then less of the pipe would be as cold as it is now so it wouldn't be a linear relationship between GPH and heat exchange. But if I added more pipe, the existing pipe would remain the same temp as now, but I would get additional heat transfer from the additional pipe. Maybe I’d get another 5 degrees out of the cooling water. That would cut my water usage by about a third. I guess that’s worth the extra $100 for another 5’ of titanium pipe. Fortunately my sump is big enough so now that I have the system set up, adding pipe will be easy.
chicken
Premium Member
Looser, do you use the well water for drinking, etc in the house or is it just for watering the yard and such. If the later, would it be possible to just pump the warm water right back down the well or some other area where it can filter back down in the ground so you are not totally wasting it?
looser
New member
Chicken - We use the well water for all the house needs. Right now the water goes into my septic system which leaches back into the ground, but I'm going to change that so that it goes into my sump pump in the basement which eventualy makes it to a river and back to the ocean.
I really don't concider it wasting water though. There is so much water in my area that my yard is still mud from the spring, and I need a sump pump in my basement so it doesn't flood when it rains. The water doesn't get polluted and it stays right here in the good old earth. What does get "wasted" is the electricity it takes to pump the water from well, so thats why I'd like to minimize the water usage. Although I'm pretty certain its still less electricty than it would take to run a chiller.
looser
New member
Cuby2 - Thanks, but I'm afraid I don't have a reference for the number. What does that equate to in laymen terms? Also, any idea what the equivalent cost would be if I where to use a chiller for the equivalent cooling? I could probably figure out what it costs me to run my well pump to pump an hours worth of water. Just trying to take it the next step and try and figure out what the actual savings are beyond the initial cost of the chiller of course.
BeanAnimal
Premium Member
and evaporating 1 gallon of water gives you over 7000 BTU of cooling
Looser, one ton of cooling is 12,000 BTUH. Chiller manufacturers are notorious for NOT listing cooling capacity, instead they list HP. From what I understand they equate 1 HP to 1 ton of cooling although that doesn't work out in my book. We used to figure 1 KW/ton when we'd estimate power consumption for a rooftop unit or an air cooled chiller system. That breaks out to about 1.3 HP/ton, so from that you could assume you are getting about a 0.4 HP chiller capacity. And actually you are removing heat from 1000 watts of lighting.
Bean I think that evaporation is a GREAT to go for cooling your tank with one exception. When you evaporate the heat into your home and are using a central AC system you still have to pay to remove that heat, both latent and sensible. I know evaporation is popular but it isn't free.
I think using a small cooling tower like Deltec's Eco Cooler is a nice way to go if you place the unit outdoors but again they charge an arm and a leg for that little puppy. Then there is the issue of bugs, dust and ambient temp that you have to deal with.
The entire cooling issue is like drugs, they all have side effects so none of them are perfect. Of course a cold Corona on a warm evening, sitting on the patio with your favorite mermaid and friends is pretty close . . . .ah. But then that belongs in a different thread.:rollface:
looser
New member
Cuby2 - Thanks! I think I get it now. In fact the alternative that I had concidered was a .5 HP chiller. A .5 HP chiller cost about $1,100 or $2,200 per ton. So at .4HP I'm getting about $880 worth of cooling capacity for a cost of about $250. So, to your point, not to shabby at all
. I wonder if I add another 25' of plastic tubing (cost about $5) if I would get another 1/10th of a HP worth of cooling?Now for operating costs. Any thoughts on how to calculate costs to run a 1/2 HP chiller? My well pump is a 1hp pump, I think its 6amp. Could probably pump 30 gallons (or 1hrs worth of water) in about 5 minutes. (just a guess)
