Is the water coming from underground springs or something?
I like basements that have good drainage, mine has a pit that I think is for a sump pump but I just use it instead of a floor drain for the condensation from the furnace, even last summer when we had 7" of rain and the streets were flooded my basement was for the most part dry, we had about a quarter cup of water puddle up in one corner because there was standing water in the yard outside, but if you do proper drainage, foam insulation with vapor barrier slopping away from the house helps alot with water and keeping the foundation warm.
Any reason not to both use the water for grey water applications and for cooling your house? I forget who was selling them but there is a heat pump heat exchanger that goes directly to water.

It might be, I'm not sure.

Well, its finally starting to warm up around here and I'm thinking that a way to test this would be pretty nice. So, I'm thinking of putting together something to get a very simple proof of concept. I have an old car radiator laying around. I simply pump the water from the sump upstairs into and through the radiator and drain it back down to the sump. When the pump is activated, a fan will also be activated to draw warm air through the radiator. Now I just need a small pump capable of lifting water 10+ feet. I know there are plenty of pumps out there, but does anyone have any suggestions? I'm guessing ~5 gpm would be enough @ 10 ft of head.

I think you need to know if 5 gpm is going to drain the sump in a short period of time.

That's a lot of water. 300 gallons in an hour? (6) 50 gal barrels..
In 10 hours, that's going to be 3,000 gallons.

Anyways, I think the Chilled-Water AC we have at work, pre-cools the water down
to about 45 degrees. It's sent into big water-to-air exchangers in the ceilings and cold air comes down out of the ducts..
It works too well.. I have to wear a jacket sometimes.. In July & August!! :mad:

If you have an endless supply of cool water, I would not spend much
money on hardware to prove the idea will work.
Just build the actual unit.. :)

The water will be cycled back to the sump to cool back down, so I won't run out.

I don't have central air. I normally just use a window A/C unit in the bedroom for sleeping. However, if this works, I could see making one for my house. However, I don't have nearly the water that my uncle does. So, I'd like to do the test.

For his house, we'd just have to find a good way to do it. I'm still thinking the a-coil method would work nicely.

"The water will be cycled back to the sump to cool back down, so I won't run out."


What you will have is a heat pump. It will be moving upstairs room heat into the sump water.

Unless there is a pretty large body of water in that sump, it's going to get warmed up..
How much it warms up, will depend on how hot it is that day and the exchange rate with the ground water..

If the water under the house is really moving (like an underground river),
things could work out very well.. :)

Normally, two wells are used with an open loop system.
http://www.triterra.us/images/geothermal_openloop.jpg


One way you might be able to get some raw temperature data, would be to add some hot water to the sump pit,
wait a few minutes, and then measure how fast the water was chilling out.. (While stirring it up some).
If it displays a rapid change back to normal ground water temps.. You could be in luck..

Re: Sump water for cooling
 

Are you designing it as a gravity drainback system? That is, when not in operation, will the radiator and return pipes drain all the water they contain back to the sump well? The pipe that supplies the radiator could be left “charged” by installing a backflow prevention valve, like the kind used in many sump pump installations.

The whole loop might remain charged if you succeed in purging air from the radiator and pipes...

If the radiator is situated at the high point in the loop, it may also become the reservoir for any air in the system, perhaps an undesirable state. Designing a “hump” in the supply pipe, not far from the radiator, and installing an air purge vent, might create a quieter system less prone to gurgling. Come to think of it, if you wanted the radiator to remain “charged”, while the return pipe is allowed to empty, you could design a second hump in the return pipe, at a height just above the top of the radiator, and install a valve to bleed air into the return pipe, when the pump stops.

Do you have any sense of the rate at which water flows through the radiator? It seems that data, plus the diameter and lengths of the piping, might influence the specs of the pump you are seeking...food for thought.

Sump Water for Cooling
 

Say, Daox, any developments in this project?

Nope, I've been working on solar panel stuff lately.

Kaylee, What is "tiling"??