Would be neat to see these in operation and to know what design guidelines are available.
Catching up in 2010
January 7th, 2010 · 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 postings in to one and elaborate once a chance is presented.
We had a very busy fall. Part of it was due to drill rig delays which bunched our schedule up in to a few busy weeks before the holiday season. Now that it is the New Year, we are finding some time to catch up on a few things.
I did take time to take the CGC’s Commercial Designer’s course at BCIT in the late fall. An excellent course with only four of us in it. I find the knowledge you learn from others’ experiences in these settings surpasses the course material itself. Note there is no Commercial Designer’s accreditation at this stage in Canada. The coarse is truly for those wanting to learn.
A couple of takeaways that we will be putting in to our own company policies for 2010:
- switch to propylene glycol over methanol mainly due to our staff health and safety outweighing the minor drop in efficiencies between the heat transfer mixtures.
- we will never leave our vertical pipe unpressurized for any length of time due to the concern of collapsing pipes from the grout pressure in the borehole annulus.
- plumbing flow gauges to our purge cart and plumbing vertical bores to confirm loop design is achieved.
- on a commercial scale it gets more difficult to identify nonsense that the “un-user friendly” software tends to spill out. Keep an eye on this.
- and tons of business development concepts that we will be pursuing.
Happy New Year everyone.
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Electrofusion
August 24th, 2009 · geothermal, installation
A bit of a dilemma with a recent header construction. This is one end of a vertical closed loop installation. The client has an existing, but unused well, that we have inserted two U-tubes in to take advantage of this fact. Prior to finishing the fusion of the header, the majority of our header was backfilled by a motivated general contractor.
The problem is you don’t have any play left in the pipes in order to socket fuse fittings on.
The problem
So, like most new problems, we slept on it. Granted, we could have fused in a bunch of horizontal elbows and made a nasty looking header.
But then electrofusion seemed the obvious answer. Some quick calls and we had sourced the equipment and the fittings.
The solution.
Now electrofusion is not going to replace small-sized socket fusion anytime soon. It is expensive, requires specialized gear and fittings, is fussy, and noisy when having to run a generator. But in this case, it was very useful to have it as an option.
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The Death of YellowPages?
August 9th, 2009 · economics
Summary: not quite yet.
But it is that time of year when we get approached to review our Yellow Pages contract. As this can add up to some big $’s, we took some time to review our marketing strategy and the role Yellow Pages plays.
I honestly don’t know if we’ve ever got a contract from the Yellow Pages. But I do know we get sales from the following:
- referrals from happy clients
- our web presence
- trade shows
We do get a fair amount of cold calls – which I imagine are folks calling up all the geothermal guys in the neighborhood to get a collection of quotes. They likely saw our number in the Yellow Pages. But, is there any value in having the biggest ad in the Yellow Pages? Not sure. I think individuals approach this all differently. Most of us want someone locally. Most of us want reassurance that the contractor is doing what we are looking to get done. That can be done in a very small ad.
That’s what we decided anyway. That social networking is far more important than static advertising – something that Yellow Pages can not help us improve.
Where we sell ourselves is in knowing what we do; doing good; and never leaving any client unsatisfied. Keeps us busy enough.
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Busy time: So some photos
July 22nd, 2009 · geothermal
It’s been too long since we’ve posted, but that’s due to work. So we’ll shortcut to some photos.
This photo shows the area we used for a future 4-ton radiant design. We often get asked how much space is required. This is, of course, just an example.
This is the individual trenching and loop layout (for this design).
Another job was a tight retrofit. This photo shows our review of the existing setup. One item to keep in mind is the changes required for the old gas hot water tank venting when it is disconnected from the old gas furnace venting.
The following photo is not meant to show you how much of a mess we can make of your yard. It is just to show you that we can retrofit some pretty tight landscaped houses.
The reverse-return header for the vertical installation. The small line in there is a drip irrigation line. Frankly, the geothermal design is for the dry soils encountered, but the drip irrigation should introduce some moisture and improve efficiencies. Never design based on the drip irrigation though, as your ground loop will likely far outlast the lifespan of the drip irrigation materials.
Josh showing how much nicer it is to install a plenum heater outside in a nice spot vs. cramped inside.
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2009 Energy Fair
May 25th, 2009 · news
The Kamloops Energy Fair is currently the only show we attend. The reason is pretty simple – the attendees are a focused and relevant group. It is a pleasure to get in to discussions with folks at these events.
We kept things simpler this year and just enjoyed having great talks with interested people. Business is good, so we were not trying to drum up business so much as we are keeping our name out there and seeing how our industry is perceived locally. It seems like everyone, whether you’re building new or retrofitting is interested in geothermal. The economics are a key factor, and we understand that. But one thing homeowners have going for them, is it is a well-established industry with strong competition. This benefits the consumer.
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2009 Conference
May 15th, 2009 · geothermal
I just returned from the 3rd Biennial International Geoexchange Conference and Trade Show at the UBC Okanagan campus in Kelowna, BC.
As I sit here taking a break from design work I’ve fallen behind on while away, I thought it would be good to lay out what I brought back from this conference. The trick is I won’t look up any titles or authors from the programs unless I specifically remember them. This is my true takeaway from the event.
LOADS…LOADS…LOADS
Ed Lohrenz hammered this point home and it was followed up the next day by BC Hydro discussing building simulation software. There was a discussion indicating that conventional mechanical engineers have had too much liberty in using rule of thumb to quickly design systems. This is my interpretation anyway. But, the honeymoon is over, as there are real repercussions with associated $’s lost to over-designing systems. Hopefully, we’ll see the conventional industry either get on board or get out of the way. There are some highly complex software tools available to do good building energy modeling.
ERGONOMICS
Or a fancy word for simplify. Healthyheating.com had a great discussion on the complexity the mechanical room starts to take on to the average consumer. We need to really focus on simplifying design, standardizing equipment, and cleaning up our installation work. Our work is a consumer product and, as such, should reflect the simplicity of use that standard household appliances have. This was my favourite talk.
HYBRIDS
GeoExchange is just part of the solution to complex systems. We’ve known this, but it was good to see projects on the ground reflecting this. Not as many projects as should be out there, but then again, we need to convince engineers that business and politics are all parts of our world. Once again, my interpretation. Waiting for the clients’ to call on is a poor second to building our own projects.
NETWORKING
Networking is always an important part of these events and it is good to see some friends and associates. Sharing thoughts allows one to confirm one is on track (or not). Suppliers give a great perspective on the general health of the industry. Competitors become partners in large projects.
GUEST SPEAKERS
Our federal Minister of Natural Resources gave a peppy talk on the government’s focus on sustainability. But, the mention of clean coal does not escape the ears of a geoexchange audience. BCSEA president, Guy Chauncy, followed this speach and pulled no punches. In an Al Gore style he drove the point home on the world issues regarding global climate change. He then threw zealous energy and optimism at the future and solutions available to us.
MISC.
- Took some information on controls back with me.
- Cleared up some concerns regarding some design software we use.
- Scheduled some projects and ordered some supplies.
- Noted the status of our associations and the current drives.
- Met some new installers and offered my design services.
- Fell behind on my design work…
No more procrastinating.
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Geothermal Purge Cart Version 5.0
May 9th, 2009 · geothermal
We’ve been through a few purge cart modifications over the years. Here is where we’re at now.
A couple of things not evident in the photo:
- quick connect fittings on both lines
- 3 way valves allow us to reverse purge flow without disconnecting
- mostly brass – some galvanized only because that is what we had on hand at the time
- aluminum reservoir so no rusting
- large volume to ensure quick dilution
- drain tap near the bottom of the reservoir
- waterproof electric on/off switchbox is visible just above the filter in the 1st photo
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