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Joe · 04-05-10, 07:04 PM

Well I cranked up the a/c for the first time today and I have been putting it off but I think Im going to start building a pump and dump system for my ac unit. For those unfamiliar pump and dump geothermal is pumping ground water up from a well, running it through a heat exchanger with the hot high pressure side of the refrigerant system and then dumping the warmer water back down another well... at least I think that is how it works. So on to my project, I am at sea level and live near a swamp or something of that nature and am very, very close to the water table. An old man in the neighbourhood has a well and he said all you need is 8 feet and that will be good enough. out of curiosity I dug a hole in the backyard with a standard post hole digger and hit water at 2 1/2 feet. yeah and unless it doesnt rain for a long time which almost never happens I see the water there at about 2 - 2.5 ft. at all times. I tried to fill the hole with water with my garden hose and it just rose an inch or two and refused to go any higher so a good drain well could be really shallow.
now I need to plan two things and everyone is welcome to share their ideas, one is the best way to drill the pump well and second the heat exchanger. My first idea was to cut the high side line after it comes out of the condenser, so the normal fan cools as usual and then run the line to a big copper coil inside a drum filled with water, plumb the copper back to the expansion valve(tube or whatever) wire a pump to the compressor circuit, have the overflow from the drum flow into the dump well and bada bing geothermal. sound good?

04-05-10, 07:04 PM	#1
Joe Lurking Renovator Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 21 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	planning a diy pump and dump Well I cranked up the a/c for the first time today and I have been putting it off but I think Im going to start building a pump and dump system for my ac unit. For those unfamiliar pump and dump geothermal is pumping ground water up from a well, running it through a heat exchanger with the hot high pressure side of the refrigerant system and then dumping the warmer water back down another well... at least I think that is how it works. So on to my project, I am at sea level and live near a swamp or something of that nature and am very, very close to the water table. An old man in the neighbourhood has a well and he said all you need is 8 feet and that will be good enough. out of curiosity I dug a hole in the backyard with a standard post hole digger and hit water at 2 1/2 feet. yeah and unless it doesnt rain for a long time which almost never happens I see the water there at about 2 - 2.5 ft. at all times. I tried to fill the hole with water with my garden hose and it just rose an inch or two and refused to go any higher so a good drain well could be really shallow. now I need to plan two things and everyone is welcome to share their ideas, one is the best way to drill the pump well and second the heat exchanger. My first idea was to cut the high side line after it comes out of the condenser, so the normal fan cools as usual and then run the line to a big copper coil inside a drum filled with water, plumb the copper back to the expansion valve(tube or whatever) wire a pump to the compressor circuit, have the overflow from the drum flow into the dump well and bada bing geothermal. sound good?