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Old 09-23-17, 06:04 AM   #11
oil pan 4
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Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: NM
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I have my first heat pump water heater unit up and running.
It's just hot wired to run on a switch and water being fed by supplied by a 5 gallon container at the moment.
The compressor is very quiet even with the cover compressor cover plate off. With the cover installed it's even better. The fan is kind of noisy but not bad.
For a 6,000btu unit it's not bad. Running on 1.8 amps of 240v power with cool water, it's cooling the air off about 10°F per pass and warming the water about 0.2°F per pass, the water is being circulated at a few gallons per minute by the pump.
I don't think it would make a good ground source go thermal unit unless it's doing a lot better than 6,000btu.
What I have found when you cool the condensers on fixed speed air conditioners like this by say spraying water on them is they don't draw much less power but they do provide slightly cooler air.

With 122°F water I am getting 2.6 amps of draw and 5 degree temp drop on the air.
I am using a flir to measure the air discharge and process thermometer totally immersed in the water to track it's temp.

I think I want to take 2 of these, put them on a 50 to 80 gallon tank for use during the A/C season which here runs from about March to as late as November.
Even then 1 ton of heat pump water heater is only about like using about a 4000w heating element. That should be plenty.

What my plan would be is take 2 of these put each on its own thermostat. Have one wired and plumbed as a line circulater. Have a DPST count down timer switch that can be manually turned on to get the water flowing in the morning and give the water heater a head start of the incoming demand. By the time the switch turns off the thermostat should be closed.

I also have a hot water heater timer I bought from lowes on clearance for $13. I would like to do most of the heat pump water heating during the day to help the air conditioners and that is when the house should be warmest.

I would probably add in a safety thermostat incase some one turns the timer to the max (30 minutes) with the water heater at max temperature and doesn't use any hot water or incase the timer switch breaks and fails closed.


Last edited by oil pan 4; 09-23-17 at 06:43 AM..
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