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-   -   Measuring, logging, and improving efficiency. (https://ecorenovator.org/forum/showthread.php?t=5864)

Sccoupe 12-17-17 09:10 AM

Measuring, logging, and improving efficiency.
 
---Since drilling has stopped for the winter and the heat pumps are blowing heat, its time to start measuring how everything is working. At this point about 380 feet of vertical bore holes have been completed and plumbed in. Two heat pumps are sharing the loops, each with its own Grundfos UPS 15-58 circulator. In both situations, the pump is wired to the compressor so that power usage is captured. The closed loop, non-pressurized system is filled with 50/50 water/Cryo-Tek 100 Anti-Freeze. One heat pump is a one ton Tranquility 16 that I think is usually used in hotel rooms with chiller/boiler setups. The other is a Haier HPND14XHT two hose portable heat pump that I converted to geothermal using a 1 ton coaxial condensor (PACKLESS INDUSTRIES COAX-2100-S-07-85).
---With everything up and running, it was time to start logging temps and power usage to see what efficiency is on the converted Haier heat pump. This was done using some one wire ds18b20 waterproof temp sensors, a YF-S201 flow meter, and a PZEM-004T power meter. All were fed into a Parallax Propellor, assembled into TCP packets, and sent up to Thingspeak via an ESP8266 wifi module at one minute intervals.
---Live data over the last hour can be seen here https://thingspeak.com/channels/384173
---Older data compiled on a single graph with calculated COP can be seen here http://gaugetrade.com/temp/graph.html You can click and drag on the chart to zoom in on the data. Double click the graph to zoom back out. Note that in this graph, the power is times 10 to better fit the other graph data. This has only been running since last night, so this is all there is for now. I have to dump the data into this graph manually from Thingspeak and add COP.
---COP is at about 2.15 which isnt great, especially for a geothermal setup. Even the Thanquility is at 2.9 COP which seems low i guess.
---Things I need to check on...
-Verify that the flow meter is showing what is actually being pumped.
-Verify that the power meter, which is reading in watts is not calculating with a power factor.
-The Tranquility wants 2.2gpm minimum, but its only getting 1.4gpm as is the Haier. I assume they both want more. Why are the pumps not pushing more?
-Need to fill the Haier charge correctly. The pressures match the factory readings before disassembly, but 'fresh' R410A wasnt used and I only vacuumed for 20 minutes.

https://i.imgur.com/bca5LzP.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Np7ETgU.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/5eqAYpR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/qcBx8QT.jpg

Zelim 12-18-17 04:44 AM

Great job. I just check your graphs

Ron342 12-19-17 09:46 AM

Great update, guy!
Looks like your one ton unit may be similar to my 3/4 ton McQuay unit which was also from a boiler/chiller former life.
I was completely unfamilar with these types but found mine has only small differences with the geothermal varients which mcquay also makes.
Mine had a ntc temp sensor in the leaving water line which , in heat mode, sent the unit into compressor shutoff and elec heat when that temp dropped to 55f and kept it there til the loop water temp came back to 65 or so. Apparently the unit software is written to trigger it then.
I managed to hang a potentiometer in parrallel with the ntc sensor to fool it into thinking it was warmer and have my leaving water temps down to about 42f. I did this by decreasing the pot gradually so not to freeze the evsp but now am running into a low temp cutout triggered by another sensor on the evap refrigerant line itself which happens at about the 42f lwt mark.
So i have to measure what suction line temp thats happening at and see if its safe to "fool" that one too!
Did you have those problems with your unit? I understand they are made to operate with about 70f water winter and summer but i'm pretty sure that with mine and with the exception of softwate/firmware, they are the same as the geo units?
There are bunches of the boiler/chiller types available cheap from hospital, hotel, etc remodel jobs.

Sccoupe 12-19-17 11:01 AM

--My Climate Master does not have the type of restriction that you speak of. No electric heat on it either. The unit will generate a fault and shut off the compressor if the loop temp drops below 34F (if I remember the temp correctly). The manual says that a trace on the circuit board can be cut to eliminate this temperature cutoff if the loop is designed to run at lower temps. So far I haven't had a need to do this.
--I had to run to the Jersey shore to pickup this Ebay win, but it was a brand new unit for $600. A contractor had an extra unit from a hotel job. A small hint is to use water source heat pump as the search term to bring up more of these types of deals.


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