We can use manufacturer’s tables to determine a heat pump operating COP or we can measure it ourselves. My caveat is that you are measuring high voltage equipment. So don’t unless you know what you’re getting in to. COP = Energy Output/ Power Input We’ll focus on the load side as that is the easiest [...]
Entries Tagged as 'design'
Catching up in 2010
January 7th, 2010 · No Comments · design, drilling, geothermal, installation, maintenance
It has actually been long enough that I’m getting people telling me I need to update the blog. I have a tonne of ideas I’ve been trying to get down, but in the quest for completion, they never leave the draft stages. I will just dump what would likely have been 5 0r 6 blog [...]
Tags:
15% Methanol not 20%
April 14th, 2009 · 2 Comments · design, geothermal
Another rule of thumb that seems to float around is 20% methanol (by volume) for closed-loop freeze protection. By CSA code, we need to freeze protect the loop to 5C (9F) below our coldest design EWT. The basic starting point for loop design would have the coldest at 0C (32F). So we would need freeze [...]
Tags:
Do it yourself Part III
January 16th, 2009 · 1 Comment · design, geothermal
Background reading: Part I Part II As it says on our website – geothermal systems must be intelligently designed and applied. Lately we have been fielding a lot of calls from homeowners troubleshooting their DIY systems. We really try to help as best we can. The problem often is that, after the geothermal system [...]
Tags:
We need to ask a lot of questions.
December 5th, 2008 · No Comments · design, economics, geothermal, questions
Why is it so difficult to give a client a price just over the phone on what their geothermal system will cost? We can give a range – a ballpark $20,000-$35,000+, but we need to know what the client is looking for so we know what we have to accomplish. Clients have a wide variety [...]
Tags:
Tooting our own horn.
May 31st, 2008 · No Comments · design, news
August 17 update – Note that there are now a few more designers in the province. I had thought it was just a delay in updating the website at CGC (our governing body), but it turns out I am only the second accredited small system (residential) designer in BC. Keep in mind, we can design [...]
Tags:
Do it yourself Part II
May 4th, 2008 · 1 Comment · design
Note: The caveat to this discussion is that we’re based in British Columbia, Canada. Other regulatory regimes have different requirements, so be aware of your local regulations. diy geothermal anybody out there installed their own geothermal do it yourself geothermal diy geothermal systems diy geoexchange geothermal do it yourself diy residential geothermal geothermal diy geothermal [...]
Tags:
Free Online Geothermal Manual
December 13th, 2007 · No Comments · design, geothermal
The Department of Design and Construction out of New York, U.S. has prepared the Geothermal Heat Pump Manual. There are some obvious site-specific chapters such as permits, but it does give some additional depth to the homeowner wanted to know more about the design and operation of geothermal heat pumps. The real benefit is that [...]
Tags:
Do it yourself geothermal?
November 3rd, 2007 · 8 Comments · design, economics, geothermal, pricing, transparency
This is a bit of a detailed post. So for the quick summary – don’t try to install a geothermal system yourself. This post could have been titled “What you don’t want to hear”. There are a few reasons geothermal installation is difficult for the DIY (do-it-yourselfer): design is complicated; it may be difficult to [...]
Tags:
Geothermal as a Professional Engineer
October 2nd, 2007 · No Comments · design
What a homeowner should know about working with a Professional Engineer.
Tags: