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Their energy costs are 2X what ours runs, so they have to be much more intelligent about how they use it. -AC |
So they use a mini split to do the dehumidification? Actually, that's a great idea. Install a very undersized unit to do the dehumidification and use hydronics to pick up the rest.
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randed tried to run water straight from his ground loop directly through a HX that was in a ceiling mounted blower unit to cool his shop. He reported that the setup was able to lower the air temperature, and that there was considerably more condensation on the fan HX that he had expected. But the overall experience that he reported was that his shop became more humid, and not much more comfortable. So yeah, some de-humidification would be required, but not as much power would be required to make the whole thing work as a straight on air conditioner. -AC |
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In the real world, the professionals in the industry are left to solve the problem of delivery. Any mechanical contractor or engineer will tell you that it's all about trade-offs. Finding the balance of airflow vs temperature vs raw btu's delivered here or there is an art in itself. It would be great to have a wide open, straight path to follow, but bottlenecks are unavoidable due to the nature of the installation. Working around or through the real world situations is what these pros are supposed to be devoted to. As always, your mileage may vary. There are lots of ways to try to approximate the "transient" losses of ductwork, as well as "static" losses. Due to the uncertain nature of (especially residential) on-site distribution equipment actually installed, it is commonly much easier to just take measurements. The main idea is this: the more restrictive, leaky, and uninsulated the ductwork is, the less heat that will make it to its destination. As with anything, everything you do to improve the system adds up. As with many other aspects of making a building more efficient, most of the remedy is a one-time expense. After it's done, it just keeps working for free. But it's the work that turns people off. Nobody wants to go crawling around in a dark, dusty, cramped space. Not even once. Don't even mention dragging materials in and out of there! |
Residential water chillers with "mini split" style fan coils/air handlers could be the way of the future. Each room has it's own small air handler, therefore a way to deal with condensation. No ductwork losses and only one chiller/condenser unit. It's done in commercial buildings all the time on a larger scale.
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I would guess spiral wrapping that PVC duct with whatever thickness fiberglass/bluejean/rockwool batting would give you the R values you want.
The PVC provides the air seal so butting it close as possible would suffice. I like the mini-split idea as a stop gap energy efficiency improvement, and it basically is what I'm doing. It can provide for all your needs most of the year, and then you have the furnace as backup when needed. I'm not sure it's a homeowner install, although the avg contractor can be just as bad as they generally move the traditional big units. Vacuum the system is not cheap or simple for a DIY'er, and support if problems arise may be non-existent. |
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