Quote:
Originally Posted by jeff5may
Ok, back in business. I adjusted the superheat up one full turn on the valve to eliminate doubt about slugging the compressor... I had to insulate some lines to keep the txv from hunting. before it's finished, most all vapor lines will be insulated.
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Great going.
Heat for Thanksgiving will certainly be appreciated!
Yeah, turning a scrap air conditioner into an efficient heating machine is truly a win for the DIY team.
From the beginning of my obsession with hacking these cast-off assemblies, I have been struck by the fact that for little money, these conversions can efficiently assume the load of heating parts of, or even all of a house or shop, or heating water for domestic use (
as Hv23t is doing) or using the water for all or part of home heat.
I think that too much, we have become accustomed to thinking that 'central air' is the only way to heat a home and that we have to hire experts to do it for us.
Well, you are proving that there is another way... keep it up.
Randen, a machinist up in Canada, built a real beauty out of an old 3 Ton AC. He put in an extensive ground loop system to enable his unit to extract heat from the earth, and he is successfully heating his machine shop with his setup. Last winter, he sent me an email, from Argentina thanking me for making available the information to tackle an AC-to-GSHP conversion. He has, several times remarked how much money he has saved with his system, compared to using oil heat. In fact, I'd guess that the money he saved from his homemade GSHP system, went a long way toward paying for his trip to South America.
So, I think we're really on to something here. And everyone who has tried to build one of these systems, and posted their results... their successes and their mistakes, is contributing to the 'lore' that others might learn from.
Your project is providing heat in time for Thanksgiving... that's a very good thing. But because you have gone to the trouble of posting your results, you are warming up much more than one room...
Best,
-AC