| Author |
Message |
    
Brother_in_buells
| | Posted on Saturday, January 18, 2014 - 12:59 pm: | 
|
Soapstone stoves are wonderful. It's amazing how nice wood heat can be
The full soapstone (tulikivi)wood stoves are not cheap ,so if you can find a used one thats a good option to
its a a stove for the rest of your life and saves a lot on the gas bill. |
Hughlysses
| | Posted on Saturday, January 18, 2014 - 01:52 pm: |
|
An idea I had for heating and cooling runs into regulatory problems. I wanted to tap into the water mains to use as a heat sink for a heat pump to cool in summer and to draw heat out of the water in winter. I would just put the water back into the mains as the energy units were taken or given.
Ourdee- this system already exists and is patented. It was marketed by a company called DeMarco Energy Systems. I was involved a few years back on a project that used one. The system was used in conjunction with water source heat pumps as the HVAC system for a Marine Bachelor Enlisted Quarters at MCAS Beaufort. Since the water utility was owned by the base, this avoided the issues that might arise with a private utility. The system consisted of an off-the-shelf commercial plate and frame heat exchanger, a pump, and controls. Potable water coming from the base water distribution system ran through one side of the heat exchanger, and water from the water source heat pump system in the building ran through the other side. The system was arranged so that it pulled water out of the base water system in one location and dumped it back in in another. This was supposed to reject heat in one of 2 ways: (1) if the water usage "downstream" of this building is sufficient, the heat would just wind up in the water going down the drains in homes and other buildings. The system would also have the benefit of pre-heating the water which would reduce the energy required to produce hot water in those buildings. Of course, if you're trying to get cool water out of your tap, this was a disadvantage rather than a benefit. (2) If the water usage downstream was insufficient, a pump was provided that circulated water through the unit and through the underground piping that comprises the potable water distribution system. These systems are generally "looped" so there are many redundant pathways and ample opportunity for the water in the pipe to receive heat from or reject heat to the ground.
The system worked well in the winter but not so well in the summer. The problem was that the building was located fairly close to the water tower that supplied the base system. This tank got pretty hot in the summer, and the water supplied from it could be above 80 degrees F or so. Even this wouldn't have been a big deal, but the engineering company that designed this application assumed the water temperature would be similar to the ground temperature ~10 feet down, which is something like 60 degrees F. This meant the system was greatly undersized for summer usage. In addition, the pump to make use of the heat exchange capability of the existing potable water distribution piping didn't work as expected, and this was blamed on water "short circuiting" through the loop, traveling only a short distance underground from the pump discharge before it was picked back up by the intake. The system just wouldn't allow the building to cool properly as installed, and the contractor wound up installing a supplemental cooling tower to help out during the summer.
The DeMarco system seemed like a great idea, and I expect it would have worked pretty well if the application had been engineered better. I just tried to google the company and it appears they went under a few years ago but are trying to reorganize.
Here's a link to the patent:
https://www.google.com/patents/US6604376?pg=PA1&dq=demarco+water&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Cs7aUvy1K5KqkQfXvYDQDQ&ved=0CEwQ6AEwAw
(Message edited by Hughlysses on January 18, 2014) |
Ourdee
| | Posted on Saturday, January 18, 2014 - 02:54 pm: |
|
Thanks Hugh.
While we are at it, Does anyone else use the snow from their snow blower to insulate their house? |
Aesquire
| | Posted on Saturday, January 18, 2014 - 03:36 pm: |
|
Only when I am camping in a igloo. And then I do not have a blower. 
Seriously that does actually work if only to block convection/wind. |
99savage
| | Posted on Saturday, January 18, 2014 - 09:51 pm: |
|
Ourdee
While we are at it, Does anyone else use the snow from their snow blower to insulate their house?
My mother was born someplace you never heard of, on the prairies north of Winnipeg. 100°(F) summers and way subzero winters.
They shoveled snow against the house. In subzero temperatures snow is a moderately good insulator. (Ice not so much, don't pack the snow.) |
|
