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Originally Posted by Ron342
Hello HV and the rest of you scroungers!
I followed this thread while collecting parts for my own project but naught from HV for months????
My current thoughts are to run about 20 ft of 3/16" copper refrig tubing inside 20 ft of 3/4" copper tubing, then anneal the 3/4 so I can spiral bend it at maybe 30° around the outside (actual tank or just the cover?) Of my reborn 80 gal W/H. Then connect the bottom of the 3/4 to a T off the bottom tank drain and the top of it to a T at the top exit tap of the W/H and voila thermosiphon!!
The 3/16 would be the condenser of my 5K window unit sitting in the garage. (maryland coast) I figure a window unit might work better than a dehumidifier since they are designed to dump heat into 100° air?
I have a bunch of questions:
Do I need spacers inside the 3/4?
Is 3/16 too small and will the combo thermosiphon enough heat out of the condenser??
Why can't I just watch sports on Saturday like normal guys??
Later plans are for a similar tube in tube ground water coupled evaporator but this is the first bite and I've never even brazed HVAC lines.
Any thoughts??
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I would encourage you to go ahead and try it. You might be pioneering a new way to make a water heater.
However, my personal thought is that having the condenser coil INSIDE the tank is a great way to go because of the total exposure, and there is thermo-siphonic action going on there and there is minimum resistance to the flow. Also, you won't be leaking heat back to the sky, except from the tank itself, but that's another project.
> I figure a window unit might work better than a dehumidifier since they are designed to dump heat into 100° air?
Using the condenser from your AC unit as an evaporator coil sound like pretty clever thinking to me.
> Do I need spacers inside the 3/4?
I'm not so sure that efficiency increases from using spacers will justify the hassle.
> Is 3/16 too small and will the combo thermosiphon enough heat out of the condenser??
I'm not sure that anybody here can answer that one. You idea will work, but if you could force (pump) a higher rate of water flow, it would work better.
If you really want to come to grips with thermo-siphon and resistance to flow, etc. You might want to try to find an old book on steam heating, written at the beginning of the 20th century. Those guys became masters of thermo-siphon engineering.
> why can't I just watch sports on Saturday like normal guys??
Either you have become inspired by the vision of being able to free yourself from the numbing world of pre-manufactured products, or else you just aren't getting enough fiber in your diet.
It's usually one of those two things.
-AC
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