maybe someone here can clear it up before they do:grinno:
http://community.discovery.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/9701967776/m/9001977758
I don't know the answer to that, but i plan on making my house a "green" house. I would be interested in whether it saves money or not.
Having a hot-water spring on your property is almost a requirement to get the "geo-thermal" benefit from.
My dad tried a stunt like this, in that took 4 old water heaters who's elements burnt out in, and made the necessary piping to connect them all, before running into the fifth working water heater.
Wanna know what he saved on electric? about 6 cents/year.
He had 2 tanks on each side of his wood stove, as well.
It was real interesting when he came home off the road (he drives a truck) to find a foot and half of water in the basp00get from where one of the tanks rusted. NICE! lol
A really effective geo-therm. system goes deep into the ground, if I remember from reading about it.
Kind of like a ground source heat pump, if you will, only on a much vaster scale.
now im no building contractor, but i thought the idea of finding a "warm" spoot on the earth is to keep the temperature in you haouse warmer all together, not just the water. its like if u were to go camping and sleep at any ol spot you feel like it, the ground can get quite cold, but if a contractor finds a spot that has geothermal properties, the ground your sitting on is a little warmer (its probably only a degree or two difference) and therefore takes less energy to keep your house warm. please note, i'm not sure at all, i just kno somone who builds houses and i think i remember saying this once
Check out the USGBC's LEED rating system for homes.
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=147
Certain things obviously won't save you money, but building envelope and HVAC systems will be more efficient, etc. I'm not as knowlegeable about the residential ratings, but going through the PDF should answer some questions.
So is this the next chapter in your war against anything considered environmentally friendly..?
lost me there? Im a tree hugger from way back,, and i even own a sawmill. Im not against this stuff, i just dont see (as in my mythbuster post) where it would benefit a water application. I specified only for water applications because one major consumer of electricity is the hot water tank.
btw,, that message board is hard core to say the least. Those brats bring out the ass in me. I mostly stay calm to nonsense even here but man those folks give no slack.
scott
Well, you don't have a geothermal system.
100' of 1" pipe contains just over 4 gallons of water. If left to sit long enough, it will match the temperature of the environment surrounding it.
There are too many unknowns to calculate savings though. What is the temperature of the well outlet, what is the ground temperature, etc?
and my well is about 300 ft. seems like it would have to be the same as the surrounding earth ,,correct? and thats "ALL" my gallons of water for my house. Matter of fact,, all the water that has not yet entered my well is already at earth temperature more or less,,correct?
hang on,, with my new handy dandy "meterman 35xp"(which is a meter i suggest lots of folks check out) meter i have here , it has a temp probe made from "k" wire. ill measure the temp of the water at the faucet.
brb,,,,,,,
ok
when the water first comes out the temp is 50deg deg C
after the water ran for 1 min, the temp increased to 53.9 deg C
This change in temp probably accounts for the approx 10 or so feet of line that exits the ground and ends up at the faucet which is also uninsulated. (ie-my crawl space)
im not sure how much more geothermal you can get then this. Im introducing an average of 53 deg water to the water heater. i think thats good.
What are the specifics on your father-in-laws' system in Alabama? Is it a geothermal water heater? Or a geothermal HVAC system that uses HX's to pre-heat the water?
his significant other and he just started a dog grooming parlor and had the system primarily installed for the water temperature control. I asked him why cause i was interested in what the gains were. It was way over my head i thought while talking to him. Nevertheless,,its cost was around $17,000 bux so id say its the HVAC setup.
Here is what i do know to be fact,, they were told this system would lower the cost of heating up the water that would be in constant use. This point made the sale. it just bugs me and i think the cost of the system will deliver a return maybe in 100 years. lol.
Ah. Yeah, he has a geothermal HVAC system. A side-benefit is using the waste heat to pre-heat your hot water inlet.
http://www.southerncompany.com/alpower/residential/geoexchange.asp?mnuOpco=apc&mnuType=res&mnuItem=ea
Also, do search for a "desuperheater". That is the device that warms up the hot water inlet.
Now thats saving some electricity!!!
double good in a heat pump.
good stuff there.
I've talked to this guy a couple of times he seems pretty good on subjects like this. http://www.dulley.com/list.shtml