I can see the finish line clearly now. We drained and removed the Rented Propane fired Hot water tank. And in went the DIY heat-pump hot water tank. Not so smoothly. Old copper fittings are a little difficult to get soldered nicely, had a leaker when we turned the water on. Dam.
And a second leak on the tank drain valve. Another trip to the hardware store remedied all that.
It fired up nicely. A lot quieter than the propane fired HWT.
After 5 hrs. of run time it became quite apparent I wasn't getting enough air through the evaporator. The 4" tube on the side of the evaporator foam box restricted the volume of air enough that the evaporator blocked up with frost. With a sharp box knife I modified the foam box to maximize the amount of air passing through. NICE cured.
Still I'm very surprised at the amount of condensate that is produced. During the build I had operated the system a few times in the shop and in my dads garage with no where near the amount of condensate running out like that which occurs in the humid basement air.
In my prior posting I had indicated that the unit was running at 220 watts. I must have checked the wrong wire as the actual run current is 3.2 amp including the fan motor. That makes it more like 350 watts.
I've installed a Kill a Watt meter to see how the operational costs stack up.
The temps are 110F degree water temp.
After we let it run for a day or two we'll get the timers install. One timer to prevent a stalled compressor on a short cycle with a power interruption and the other for time of use favoring the better electric rate period. Then the cover for the finished unit.
After a month of run I'll post the savings of operation.
Randen
