Copied from the other thread:
Quote:
Originally Posted by skyking View Post
98904 central Washington of much solar. he *just* had a 9900 watt solar system installed last week
Heat load analysis? The heating company may have but I don't know the results.
3x600 by 3/4 onto a 1 1/4 header.
Sounds like your brothers system is just barely pulling the grade.
It would be a good idea to do a heat load analysis (AKA: heat loss analysis), so that you have some idea where the heat is going.
GSHP and solar heating are considered 'renewable heating' which is another way of saying 'low temperature heating'.
You can't treat it like fossil fuel heat. My bet is that you need to reduce the heat losses.
Infiltration is where it starts, as most heat loss is due to infiltration. A blower door test will tell you how bad it is.
Next go after insulation. Some older houses don't have any... mine didn't have a single bit of insulation, when I bought it.
Put off getting really tight windows till the rest of the house is as good as you can get it.
Reducing the heat loss is a good investment. Your heat pump will reward you handsomely for it.
I followed the construction of your loop field, it all looked good to me... especially the drain lines on top of the pipes. Great idea.
I did a Heating Degree Day (AKA: "HDD") look-up of your Zip Code, and the yearly average is 6727. The higher the number, the more HDD days you have, the more challenging your winters tend to be. I would guess from the number that your winters can be pretty challenging.
Here's a chart from your local HDD numbers, on a day-by-day basis. Looks like you had a killer cold stretch from Oct 18 to Oct 28. I'd say it must have been fairly nippy.
I don't envy you in that cold. Really pays to button up your house as tight as possible.
Also, it is normal with any heat pump system to have an axillary heating setup for those abnormally cold, awful days. You might have a propane heater, or a pellet stove to get you through the tight spots. A heat pump system built to accommodate the abnormally cold days, will be too big the rest of the year. It's a different way of thinking than having your primary heat being oil or gas, etc.
-AC
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