EcoRenovator - View Single Post

AC_Hacker · 01-05-12, 12:10 PM

A few days ago, I went over to Mike's (AKA: Mad scientist Guy) to do some testing on the coroplast squares I bought a while back.

Here's a photo of the test setup:

You can see the heater blowing into the air input of the centrifugal fan at "A".

I put some heavy stuff on top of the coroplast to make sure that it was in good contact.

We ran quite a few tests, here is some of the non-conclusive data we recorded:

Ambient temperature of testing lab (AKA: Mike's garage) = 53F

Heated airflow was from A to A'

Recovered airflow was from B to B'

No heat:

A = 56.2F
A' = 56.0F
B = 52.3F
B' = 54.5F

After several minutes of heat (Heater drew 1092 watts):

A = 101.4F
A' = 83.8F
B = 54.7F
B' = 77.5F

Increased Fan (B, B') voltage to 12V

A = 102.2F
A' = 80F
B = 55.8F
B' = 75.9F

Reduced fan (B, B') voltage to 7.68v

A = 144F
A' = 86F
B = 55.9F
B' = 78.4F

THOUGHTS:

It does work, but the results are not stunning.
It works better than no HRV.
The low numbers were most likely affected adversely because the core was in ambient (low temperature) environment.
It really make me want to see how a counter-flow coroplast HX would work.
We need to capture data that would give us an efficiency measurement.

-AC_Hacker

01-05-12, 12:10 PM	#186
AC_Hacker Supreme EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 4,004 Thanks: 303 Thanked 723 Times in 534 Posts	A few days ago, I went over to Mike's (AKA: Mad scientist Guy) to do some testing on the coroplast squares I bought a while back. Here's a photo of the test setup: You can see the heater blowing into the air input of the centrifugal fan at "A". I put some heavy stuff on top of the coroplast to make sure that it was in good contact. We ran quite a few tests, here is some of the non-conclusive data we recorded: Ambient temperature of testing lab (AKA: Mike's garage) = 53F Heated airflow was from A to A' Recovered airflow was from B to B' No heat: A = 56.2F A' = 56.0F B = 52.3F B' = 54.5F After several minutes of heat (Heater drew 1092 watts): A = 101.4F A' = 83.8F B = 54.7F B' = 77.5F Increased Fan (B, B') voltage to 12V A = 102.2F A' = 80F B = 55.8F B' = 75.9F Reduced fan (B, B') voltage to 7.68v A = 144F A' = 86F B = 55.9F B' = 78.4F THOUGHTS: It does work, but the results are not stunning. It works better than no HRV. The low numbers were most likely affected adversely because the core was in ambient (low temperature) environment. It really make me want to see how a counter-flow coroplast HX would work. We need to capture data that would give us an efficiency measurement. -AC_Hacker Attached Images __________________ I'm not an HVAC technician. In fact, I'm barely even a hacker... Last edited by AC_Hacker; 01-05-12 at 12:33 PM..