Quote:
Originally Posted by srihanuman7
Are you still working on this home made ground source heat pump? How is it working out? I am curious about more details about the parts used for the heat exchanger and sizing the compressor.
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Hi John, thanks for dropping by...
My own project is mostly complete. I suffered a pretty severe arm injury that has had a surprisingly adverse effect on my progress.
However, I am, as I write these words, preparing my back room for a radiant floor that will be driven from the heat pump and the loop field I have put in.
Ironically, there are readers of the Homemade Heat Pump Manifesto who became convinced that it could be done, by reading the 'Manifesto' thread, and have made much better progress than I have. Some have had their units working for two or more years.
My intent was to prove that it would be possible to create your own heat pump from discarded equipment, and in this I have been successful, as have others, some using ground source for heating, others for cooling, although both heating and cooling remain a possibility for anyone.
I also wanted to prove that it would be possible to create your own ground source loop field, by hand if needed. In this I also succeeded. It turned out that the ground conditions where I live were quite difficult, and I didn't have the success I hoped for, but I still have a usable ground loop, only smaller than I had hoped for. If I were to do it again, I would definitely borrow, or rent or make more powerful tools for this part of the project.
There are other parts of the country where hand tools or low-powered tools would work.
For testing, U used a car radiator with fan to warm my basement, and things worked out well, especially considering that my basement has no insulation.
Reports from other folks indicate that a radiant floor works very well with this kind of thing... which I am working on.
As for the HX, my preference is for brazed plate HXs.
Sizing your compressor and HX will depend on the heat load of your house.
More detail about this can be found from searching this thread...
-AC