EcoRenovator  

Go Back   EcoRenovator > Improvements > Geothermal & Heat Pumps
Advanced Search
 


Blog 60+ Home Energy Saving Tips Recent Posts Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 08-22-12, 12:44 AM   #1291
Vlad
Apprentice EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Windsor ON Canada
Posts: 229
Thanks: 4
Thanked 30 Times in 22 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hatted82 View Post
wow ! homemade heat pump? that's really cool.
It is cool and warm. Just switch reversing valve .....

Vlad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-12, 04:35 PM   #1292
kbonk
Helper EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 44
Thanks: 10
Thanked 4 Times in 2 Posts
Default

Just found these nice units very compact
Self Contained Marine Air Conditioning Systems - Prices & Specifications
kbonk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-22-12, 05:20 PM   #1293
AC_Hacker
Supreme EcoRenovator
 
AC_Hacker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 4,004
Thanks: 303
Thanked 723 Times in 534 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by kbonk View Post
You can do a lot of hacking for 1300 bucks...

Let us know how it turns out.

-AC
__________________
I'm not an HVAC technician. In fact, I'm barely even a hacker...
AC_Hacker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-26-12, 02:43 PM   #1294
lyndenjh
Welder, tinkerer
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: NE Wisconsin
Posts: 3
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default New question?

I have been looking at this forum for a while now and have decided to join up and ask this question:

Short of me reading all 1300 posts, is there a post that details how someone may have taken a used whole house size A/C unit and converted it to a water to air furnace and A/C unit.

Why shouldn't I be able to put the correct valving into a used unit so that it can be used to both heat and cool from a closed loop water system by putting the correct coils into a reservoir of water that is circulated through a horizontal loop. I know that this would bring everything into the house, but I have a big basement to use and have access to used A/C units from the guy who hauls my scrap metal from my business.

Thanks, Lynden
lyndenjh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-26-12, 09:50 PM   #1295
randen
Uber EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada
Posts: 657
Thanks: 9
Thanked 191 Times in 129 Posts
Default

Lyndenjn Wrote:

Short of me reading all 1300 posts, is there a post that details how someone may have taken a used whole house size A/C unit and converted it to a water to air furnace and A/C unit.

Short answere: Yes, I did it. You can do it as well and all the information you need to have to be successful is here, but you still have to study. Building your own from junk is not like buying a kit to assemble.
The ultimate goal is to reduce the cost to stay warm and cool. To do this the correct size or BTU rating must be met for both the heat-pump and loop field.

The first order of business is to insulate and seal the house like crazy. If the wind blows through your home your GSHP creation will need to be large, run often and no savings will be seen. The home improvments alone increase the value of the home. So this is money and time well spent. New windows doors etc. any approaching 25 yrs old could use an up-grade. Insulation, there are so many nice products avalible now. Maybe the exterior of the house could be updated. Dated siding can be replaced and complete sheets of rigid foam be used beneth to completely blanket and seal the structure. All this can be DIY.

Next is the loop field large enough or just a little larger but don't go crazy here because again it could get expensive unless you have escavating equipment or a friend of a friend that does . Too small and you will not get enough heat to do the job. A good loop field is very nessisary and not cheap.

Horror stories here are loop fields buried only 2 ft deep and being too small having a heat-pump run continuously and the house getting really cold and the electric bill being huge.

Lets face it. You what is to access the greatest amount of heat, expend the lest amount of energy to move it into your home and keep it there. Simple.


My shop where I had built my own GSHP unit is from a 3.5ton AC recycled unit. with a 4 ton loop field. I'm very pleased with the performance. It both heats and cools the shop. I think this past winter I heated it with about $350.00 worth of electricity compared to $2800.00 of furnace oil. There are still some improvements to make. Additional insulation to the ceiling a better insulated entrance door and the icing on the cake would be to replace the original un-insulated concrete floor with an insulated heated concrete floor.

Yes building your own system can be done and relitively inexpensive. But best results is the culmination of good systems.

Randen
randen is offline   Reply With Quote
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to randen For This Useful Post:
AC_Hacker (08-26-12), charlesfl (08-27-12)
Old 09-01-12, 06:58 PM   #1296
lyndenjh
Welder, tinkerer
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: NE Wisconsin
Posts: 3
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

Understand all the stuff you mentioned. Most all that is up to snuff as far as the house is concerned. Also understand the theory of the system as my bro in law has had one of the first systems put in here in NE WI for about 20 some years.

It's getting time for me to think about this upgrade since my Lennox hi ef furnace is also about 20 years old.

Plan is to build a GSHP system and retain the Lennox for the really cold weather.
lyndenjh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-01-12, 07:03 PM   #1297
lyndenjh
Welder, tinkerer
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: NE Wisconsin
Posts: 3
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

My goal is to build a correct size system using a A/C unit and not have to "reinvent the wheel" to do it, as it seems alot of the posts on this forum tend to lean towards. Having looked at this technology and asking questions of knowledgable people in this area (i.e. guys who sell these systems) I can and have gathered enough info to correctly size the loop and the unit.
lyndenjh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-01-12, 08:53 PM   #1298
Vlad
Apprentice EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Windsor ON Canada
Posts: 229
Thanks: 4
Thanked 30 Times in 22 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lyndenjh View Post
My goal is to build a correct size system using a A/C unit and not have to "reinvent the wheel" to do it, as it seems alot of the posts on this forum tend to lean towards. Having looked at this technology and asking questions of knowledgable people in this area (i.e. guys who sell these systems) I can and have gathered enough info to correctly size the loop and the unit.
So, let's see your project running......
Vlad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-02-12, 02:05 PM   #1299
AC_Hacker
Supreme EcoRenovator
 
AC_Hacker's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 4,004
Thanks: 303
Thanked 723 Times in 534 Posts
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by lyndenjh View Post
...I can and have gathered enough info to correctly size the loop and the unit.
I'm interested in the method you're using to size the loop & the unit.

Please share your method, as others might benefit from it also.

-AC
__________________
I'm not an HVAC technician. In fact, I'm barely even a hacker...
AC_Hacker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-12, 11:44 AM   #1300
charlesfl
Helper EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Pensacola Florida
Posts: 38
Thanks: 17
Thanked 5 Times in 4 Posts
Smile

I found a free computer program that can be run in windows by Lawrence Berkley National Lab called THERM.
It can be use to find heat loss of house through different materials. Can be downloaded from

LBNL Windows & Daylighting Software -- THERM

charlesfl is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Tags
air conditioner, diy, gshp, heat pump, homemade

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 01:59 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Ad Management by RedTyger
Inactive Reminders By Icora Web Design