[Daox]

These are all the results I have so far. My setup was only a test, but I would like to go forward with the idea and develop it. It really doesn't need to cool down the whole house, one room's worth would make me happy. As you can see below I didn't actually use the sump in the test. The sink and barrel were simply used as reservoires. The basement eventually cooled them off (albeit very slowly).

I have very high humidity but not that high of temperatures to deal with. If I can even get this to the point where it lowers the humidity a fair amount I'd probably be happy. Unfortunately, I didn't take humidity readings while doing the test.

I did later find out the 60F temperature was due to the basement being 60F. The ground water here is normally 55F.

Originally Posted by Daox

Well, I got my first results tonight. I only have it hooked up with one barrel atm and am using the downstairs sink instead of the sump. However, it is working. Here is a picture of the setup.


Here it is in the basement.




Here is the fan setup upstairs. Yes, it is quite ugly, but it is sealed pretty good against the radiator.






I can say it does work, but needs work. Here are the measurements I took.

Flow rate = .7 GPM / 42 GPH
Radiator temp at the bottom = 60F (not sure why its so warm)
Radiator temp at the top = 70F
Ambient = 81F

That gives me about 3500 BTU of output.

Now, the box fan I'm using is pulling 120W of power and the pump is pulling 25W, so combined we have 145W of power used (measured with a kill a watt). 1kWh is roughly 3400 BTU. So, it looks like I have a COP of around 7.0! Not bad at all IMO.

However, I would like to improve the design. Mainly, I'd like to increase the output. I think the first thing to look at is either a new fan, or improving the ridiculously poorly slapped together shroud. There really isn't that much air flowing through the radiator. So, I'm going to take a look at a squirrel cage fan I have off a wood furnace. I'm curious how much power it draws, but I know squirrel cage fans can hold more pressure than axial fans, and that should move more air through the radiator. I also need to deal with the condensation the unit makes.

Suggestions are welcome!

...


I just turned the system off for the night. After a few hours of operation, the bottom of the radiator was up to 65F and the top was up to 73F. This brings the BTUs down to ~2800. The water in the sink was up to 66F. I'll take a measurement again before turning it on tomorrow to see how much it cooled off.