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Old 07-22-11, 09:06 AM   #842
AC_Hacker
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Quote:
Originally Posted by randen View Post
The air-conditioning operated though the night cooling the shop to 21.5 deg C. The morning out side temp 26.6 deg C. It would seam utilizing the ground loop only is very effective.
Your results sound very good. I think your approach is pretty smart, trying to get the biggest bang for the least bucks.

Where the compressor could help for cooling is if the re-purposed shop air handler was not providing enough cooling for your purposes. The compressor would give you cooler water, at a price.

You could also increase your cooling by just increasing the total area of your air handler. the easiest way would be to install more air handlers, like maybe 4X what you have now.

It might be worth your while to set up a performance log of your system. I did that this past winter on my backyard system.

Since you're using your system for cooling, you might record once a day at the hottest part of the day, which I would assume to be around 2PM:
  • Loop water temperature
  • Outdoor air temp
  • Shop air temp
I was running my system with no thermostat, and I found that small changes in loop water temp made big changes in the amount of heat my system could put out, which was evidenced by the temperature rise. That behavior might not be so pronounced with a direct water system like you have now.

The reason I mentioned the small change/big change issue, is you might want to use a thermometer capable of resolving to 1/10 degree when measuring loop water temp.

So how are you handling the condensation that is being produced?

Best regards,

-AC_Hacker
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