Solar Assisted Geothermal

 Question for the group, I am getting a quote on a geothermal heat pump
and was wondering what benifits might be had from coupling the closed
loop with a evacuated tube system. Ideally I would place the tubes in
front of the heat pump so that the heat pump only inputs the difference
between the solar produced temp and the temp necessary for heat
production.  Anyone know of any reason why this wouldnt be possible.
Differences in necessary flows are the only reason I can imagine.

Ghostwriter

  wrote:


Aren't evacuated tubes mostly for high-grade heat?  A geothermal heat pump can
get by on low-grade heat, such as you might get from a simple single-glazed flat
plate collector.  I'm not sure that the heat pump wouldn't actually be damaged
by high-grade heat from an evacuated tube collector.



Robert Scott
Ypsilanti, Michigan

 

On Jan 26, 9:10 am, ---@--- (Robert Scott) wrote:

evacuated tubes mostly for high-grade heat?  A geothermal heat pump can

flat

According to one supplier this is an unusual but not unheard of use of
the tubes, and they have never had anyone have issues from the heat. I
suspect that the fluid tubes in the the heat pump are stainless so
heats not really a major issue. But your right I should email various
heat pump suppliers and start asking questions. I will also email some
different tube suppliers and get their thoughts.

The idea is that since the pump is running the whole time that the
system is cycling, the flow rate is much higher than a thermal panel
would normally see so the output heat should be lower. My hope is that
any excess heat will be stored in the ground loop and be available for
a few hours each night.   Also the fact that the temp coming into the
tubes will be <60F should increase the efficiency of the tubes. The one
thing that I will have to figure out is what temp to set the bypass
pump, since I figure the ground loop will make a wonderful dummy load.


Ghostwriter

 On 26 Jan 2007 07:39:42 -0800, brown_1173@yahoo.com wrote:

Ham radio background, perhaps?


Robert Scott
Ypsilanti, Michigan

 

On Jan 26, 10:16 am, ---@--- (Robert Scott) wrote:

radio background, perhaps?

My father was always invovled with ham radio, I guess some of it rubbed
off.