EcoRenovator  

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


Blog 60+ Home Energy Saving Tips Recent Posts


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-09-24, 05:31 AM   #1
scottorious
Helper EcoRenovator
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: bloomington IL
Posts: 46
Thanks: 0
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Default Homemade water to water heat pump help

I built a heat pump for educational purposes and I want to determine how efficient it was operating. Very roughly I think I figured it out but my method was ugly. Feel free to rip apart my build because I'd love to improve it. Currently using plain propane from a small torch cylinder. I intentionally used a needle valve just to play around and watch what happens when I increase or decrease refrigerant flow on it and thats also why I permanently installed gauges into it. They were also cheaper than buying a manifold gauge set.

I had the evaporator side of the heat pump connected to the Garden hose with a constant temperature water flowing through it. I did not measure the temperature of that water because I thought it didn't matter.

on the condenser side the inlet water was 65.1 degrees Fahrenheit and the outlet water temp was 81.5 degrees Fahrenheit. so a change in temperature of 16.4 degrees Fahrenheit. I assumed that time and volume of water would be important so I timed the water flow into a jug with a 2 quart measurement and it took 73 seconds to fill it. I measured the power draw from the compressor and it was 258 watts. I did not consider the power draw from the pump in this but I guess for complete accuracy it should be included.

So here's my ugly math

2 quarts = 4 pounds of water

raising 1 pound of water 16.4 degrees would be 16.4 Btu so 4 pounds would be 65.6 Btu.

3600(seconds in an hour)/73 seconds=49.32

65.6Btu x 49.32=3,235 Btu/hour?..... This is where it got ugly.

I found an online calculator to convert my 3,235 Btu/hour into watts and got 948 watts.

If I divide the 948 watts by the 258 watts of the compressor draw I get 3.67.

Does that math out right? would my rough COP be equal to 3.67? I didn't do anything to insulate the condenser or capture heat from the compressor so with some work I could possibly push that up past 4 which seems pretty good for a DIY garage build.

Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	20240408_011150.jpg
Views:	31
Size:	511.8 KB
ID:	9501  
scottorious is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply



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 05:41 AM.


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