I built what I call my ‘Solar Structure’ down the hill from my house about 150 feet away.
This structure holds (8) eight 4′ X 8’solar hot water collectors purchased from Solar Hot (www.solarhotusa.com) and 18, 15 watt PV modules purchased from Harbor Freight Tools (www.harborfreight.com). The hot water collectors are seperated into (2) two groups of (4) four and have seperate funtions.
The bottm set of collectors are dedicated to the production of hot water for home heating and domstic hot water uses. The upper set of collectors are dedicated to the producrtin of hot water for the “Geothermal Energy Storage” system which is the main feature of the scientific experiment. The PV modules produce up to 270 watts of power at 24vdc. That power first goes through a ProStar 30M charge controller purchased from Affordable Solar (www.affordable-solar.com.com), then the 24vdc gets sent to a bank of batteris from Interstate Batteries (www.interstatebatteries.com) which stores this power for immediate and future use.
The bottom set of collectors makes hot water and sends it to a 100 gallon storage tank I call “Solar Storage Tank 1″, purchased from Plastic-Mart (www.plastic-mart.com). The pump is “Solar Pump-1 and is a “Model 830-BR-T-24v, 24vdc pump from March Pumps (www.marchpump.com). The sole purpose of Pump-1 is to circulate water through the lower set of collectors in order to make hot water. up to 170 F to be stored in Tank-1.
Once Tank-1 has enough hot water, Solar Pump-2, “Model 830-BR-T-24v, pumps the hot water up the hill to the house through the undergroung pipes when commanded to do so. This piping is a pre-insulated set of (2), 1 inch PEX tubes called PEX-Flex (www.PEXFlex.net) which was purchased from Urecon Pre-Insulated Pipes (www.urecon.com).
Once the hot water reaches the house, it is sent to (2) two pieces of equipment. The first piece of equipment is a brand new water heater with an internal heat exchanger specifically built for the solar industry by Rheem Water Heaters (www.rheem.com). This water heater is a Rheem model #RSID80.
The second piece of eqiuipment the solar hot water flows to is a hot water coil for home heating and is from Precision Coils (www.precision-coils.com). The hot water heating coil is installed in the discharge air duct, custom built for this project by Mueller & Wilson out of San Antonio, TX (www.mwiusa.com). This duct work is installed on my TRANE (www.trane.com) 3-ton Geothermal Heat Pump, model #GEVB03611PO100TR.
When hot water is available and the computer recognizes the need for water in either piece of equipment, the Dimax Digital Control system purchased from Syntergy Energy Management Solutions (www.syntergyems.com) sends a signal to either of the Honeywell control valves to open. Both the water heater and heating coil have automatic flow control valves installed on them from Hays Fluid Controls (www.haysfluidcontrols.com), ensuring precise and proper flow all the time no matter how high the water pressure gets. Whenever the heating coil or hot water heater call for hot water and its available from the 100 gallon storage tank (Tank-1), the digital computerized controls turn on Pump-2 to circulate hot water from the solar structure to the house. The digital control system also opens either valve upon demand.
NORMAL OPERATION - COOLING
The home thermostat operates like any conventional thermostat also known as a T-Stat. (Since my geothermal loop field IS NOT finished, I am using pool water through a heat exchanger to run my system.) When cooling is called for, the controls turn on the TRANE geothermal unit for cooling. The controls also turn on a water circulating pump which flows water through the geothermal heat pump and the pool water heat exchanger purchased from GEA Flatplate (www.flatplate.com), along with turning on my pool pump if it is not already running through its own time clock.
I will use swimming pool water for cooling until it reaches a temperature of 85 F. I hope to extend my swimming season because when I am cooling the house, I am also heating the pool.
(In the future when my geothermal loop field is completed) My digital controls will monitor the pool temperature and will determine which way to send the water from the heat exchanger and/or the TRANE heat pump. If the pool temperature is above 85 F, then the digital controls will open a valve, sending the water to the geothermal loop field. If the pool temperature is below 85 F, then the digital controls will control the same valve, but will send the water to the heat exchanger tied into the pool, thus heating the pool until it reaches 85 F.
NORMAL OPERATION - HEATING
The T-Stat will operate like any normal heat pump T-Stat but has several different stages.
When the T-Stat calls for heat, the digital controls will first find out if solar hot water is available from the 100-gallon storage tank at the solar structure. If solar hot water is available (at least 105 F) the heating system will turn on and use solar hot water to heat the home. If solar hot water is not available, the digital controls will energize a relay within the TRANE unit, telling it to run in normal heat pump mode. If both of these systems fail, the the T-Stat will recognizes this and will energize some electric heat strips for home heating. I hope this never happens because electric heat strips are EXPENSIVE to operate and i what I have been using for the past 3-years before I built this new system.
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