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11-24-10, 06:16 PM | #11 |
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I just came across this link
solar Photo Gallery by Eric at pbase.com He dug a hole lined it with extruded polystyrene (pink) added a liner to make the inside water tight and covered it over. I haven't mentioned that my tank will be just outside of my house. I can place the tank on a gravel bed that can drain directly down into my perimeter drain to help remove standing water. If I wrap the polyiso with some thick poly and am careful when back filling not to rip it it would be water tight except for whatever comes from above which is relatively easy to deal with. I'd be more worried about trapping vapor leaking from the tank at that point. Also I can back fill completely with gravel to create quick and easy channels for water to drain down to the perimeter drains. Last edited by strider3700; 11-26-10 at 12:39 PM.. Reason: removing possibly incorrect acronymns |
11-24-10, 06:35 PM | #12 | |
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Have you considered PCM?
Quote:
I can point you toward some info. The biggest advantage is that you can store energy without raising the temperature of your storage media much. I spent months searching out information on PCM. This link was the most valuable one I came across: Reversible phase change compositions of calcium chloride hexahydrate with potassium chloride Regards, -AC_Hacker |
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11-24-10, 08:54 PM | #13 |
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phase change would be cool, but water is pretty effective, is proven tech for these type of systems and has passed building code requirements in a single wall heat exchanger in my province before. If I was to add antifreeze or go to anything more exotic I'll almost certainly need to go double wall which would add a bunch to the cost.
THat was a very detailed and interesting read though. I wonder how difficult the base chemicals are to get. |
11-25-10, 12:59 AM | #14 |
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Calcium chloride is the active chemical in DowFlake driveway salt.
Sodium chloride is common table salt. Strontium chloride is a bit tough, but I have found it here. Here is a page about the stuff. Food for thought. By the way, I was commenting on another thread where a guy was contemplating using a 210 gallon fish tank for heat storage... I suggested PCM, check out the numbers. Regards, -AC_Hacker Last edited by AC_Hacker; 11-25-10 at 01:03 AM.. |
11-25-10, 08:14 AM | #15 |
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Do you know how the phase change medium reacts with common plumbing materials (copper, steel, pex)?
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11-25-10, 12:29 PM | #16 | |
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Quote:
There is another type of PCM, paraffin, which also has PCM qualities and has no reversibility problems, which, to my knowledge, has no problems with metals or plastics. Paraffin, as found in the grocery store, is a mix of many different kinds of paraffins. To be useful for PCM you need a paraffin that has a narrow phase change range (AKA: technical grade paraffin). I know this can be obtained, but I haven't found it domestically yet... -AC_Hacker Last edited by AC_Hacker; 11-25-10 at 01:46 PM.. |
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11-26-10, 03:43 AM | #17 |
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EPS vs. XEPS
Extruded is referred to as XEPS or XPS.. Expanded is EPS. Colored stuff is XPS. This thread is going to confuse people |
The Following User Says Thank You to mrd For This Useful Post: | strider3700 (11-26-10) |
11-26-10, 12:43 PM | #18 |
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I've edited all of my posts to remove any acronyms.
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11-26-10, 03:47 PM | #19 | |
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Quote:
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11-26-10, 05:05 PM | #20 |
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yep and when I was incorrectly referring to EPS I was meaning extruded polystyrene. My Bad
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