Quote:
Originally Posted by dremd
Hey guys, I've been very interested in water source/ ground source cooling (not much heating needed down here, but it would be nice) for quite a while and A/C hacker has had me highly interested for years.
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dremd,
It sure would be useful if you could get some loops into the Bayou water. I certainly understand why you can't, but it sure would be useful.
So, as I understand it, you're 15 feet above and 20 feet back from the bayou, right?
So, your water table is 15 feet beneath your camp. Other than getting loops into the bayou, your answer is 15 feet below your feet.
Too deep to trench, but a rotary water drill just might work really fine.
You ought to do a little asking around about your soil conditions near your lodge. Ask well drillers, ask GSHP drillers (for use in A/C).
All of the drilling problems that I had personally, were due to rocks that were left after prehistoric recessions of ancient glaciers. In fact the other folks that I know in this area, who had problems drilling, had those problems because of fist-sized to football-sized rocks and cobbles. I just bet that it has been many, many, many millennia, since Louisiana has seen any glaciers.
I have heard of very easy drilling done by some of our Southern Brothers, who encountered nothing more serious than sand and clay... so before you pull the plug on the idea of drilling or trenching, tap into the knowledge of some of your local drillers.
They may tell you that it is truly unreasonable to DIY something like that, and that you need Very Big Power to punch holes in the ground. If that is the case, then don't proceed down that road.
But if you are not up against cobbles or bedrock... you could have a very good chance of success.
It's amazing how, once you start asking around, local lore on this issue starts to come out of the woodwork.
Some closed loops sunk down into the water table a pretty good way would sink a lot of heat, and you wouldn't need to worry about anything ever silting up or getting clogged by some kind of green swamp growth.
But then there's that bayou... how deep do they dredge it???
I don't know if you have gone over any of Brad_C's posts on EcoRenovator, but he is doing a DIY open loop A/C, in Perth, Australia. He isn't on a bayou, but he is utilizing flowing ground water, and he has had to deal with filtering out stuff that could clog his HXs (yes, he is using a huge brazed plate). Brad_C is Brad_C, and he seems to be pretty much unstoppable. But for you, a mortal, you are right, an open loop system is not the place for brazed plate HXs.
Acuario, over in Spain did some interesting work with homemade HXs... In fact I think he really started a DIY tube-in-tube trend.
Then it looks to me like randen, up near Toronto, Canada, took Acuario's idea of how to DIY a tube-in-tube and made it simpler and even better.
So, you can build your own tube-in-tube that wouldn't be prone to clogging.
Hope I've been able to get your gray matter bubbling just a little bit here...
And yeah, those marine units do look pretty nice, if you have the cash... but they still need water.
Good Luck!
-AC