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Re: Thoughts On "Solar Water Heating: A Comprehensive Guide..." by Ramlow & Nusz
I have been involved with lots of projects that went for the big solar heating fractions and very few of them are operational. Drainbacks help avoid fluid stagnation but the collectors are going to expand and contract significantly. Seen more than a few with the absorber plates loose from the riser tubes. The best results I have seen for large solar heating fractions have come from "seasonal storage" tanks with 10:1 storage:glazing or even bigger. In terms of text for solar thermal, Planning & Installing Solar Thermal Systems by Earthscan Publishing is the best I have found.
solsean
1
Re: Solar paired with phase change material
"but i think the Heat exchanger design may be challenging." Got it in one, @Derheatmeister . The problem is that if the storage material is not in some interesting way crystals in suspension when it is in the solid phase, you become dependent on the heat transfer capabilities of the solid phase to get heat in -- or out -- of the liquid phase, which will be at some distance from your circulating fluid.
Given enough time, you could change the phase of any amount of material with even pretty crude heat exchanger designs -- but to get any reasonably rapid storage or release of heat, seems to me (just paper napkin thinking here) you are going to need a pretty fancy design with many very small diameter clustered tube bundles or interleaved flat plates.
Something to think about while I go plow some snow...
Given enough time, you could change the phase of any amount of material with even pretty crude heat exchanger designs -- but to get any reasonably rapid storage or release of heat, seems to me (just paper napkin thinking here) you are going to need a pretty fancy design with many very small diameter clustered tube bundles or interleaved flat plates.
Something to think about while I go plow some snow...
Yes, Rheems HPWH's will override your settings.
It's been discussed before if, at least rheems anyways, will override the settings if set to HP only.
Some didn't believe me when I said it can and will do that. Well tonight I can conclusively say that it will. I watched it. Multiple loads of laundry, and loads in the dish washer, a few showers, plus the very cold late January fresh water coming in caused it to run both the elements and the compressor while set to heat pump only.
It is interesting that I could see what it was doing when probed by the home automation but the actual econet app didn't show that the elements were running too. I figured it out when I looked at the current power consumption and noticed I was using almost 7500 watts.
Some didn't believe me when I said it can and will do that. Well tonight I can conclusively say that it will. I watched it. Multiple loads of laundry, and loads in the dish washer, a few showers, plus the very cold late January fresh water coming in caused it to run both the elements and the compressor while set to heat pump only.
It is interesting that I could see what it was doing when probed by the home automation but the actual econet app didn't show that the elements were running too. I figured it out when I looked at the current power consumption and noticed I was using almost 7500 watts.
JakeCK
1
Re: LP smaller diameter = higher pressure/BTUs? True??
Butane has the highest BTU valve of all flammable games, I believe. MD
Re: Do you prefer the wool felt or the white fiber heating oil filter cartridge?
I have an RACOR 500FG fuel filter with a drop in 10 micron filter cartridge.
The 500FG fuel filter system has a centrifigal fuel flow system with stationary vanes in the housing to slow the fule flow to allow the crap to drop out into the large clear sediment bowl that can be drained of water and sediment when needed without bleeding the system.
The drop in cartridge and o-rings can be changed without losing the prime in the system as it has internal check valves.
RACOR has a 2 Micron filtration cartridge as well. These cartridges are good for 10,000 gallons of fuel.
The 500FG fuel filter system has a centrifigal fuel flow system with stationary vanes in the housing to slow the fule flow to allow the crap to drop out into the large clear sediment bowl that can be drained of water and sediment when needed without bleeding the system.
The drop in cartridge and o-rings can be changed without losing the prime in the system as it has internal check valves.
RACOR has a 2 Micron filtration cartridge as well. These cartridges are good for 10,000 gallons of fuel.
leonz
2
Re: Sudden difference in main line heating
I decided to flush the boiler as recommended above. I was draining from bottom valve of sight glass and noticed it wasn't terribly dirty and running clear pretty quickly. So i stopped draining, just cleaned the sight glass, filled about 1/2 sight glass full of water to restore water level and turned on system. Huge difference. The short main heats up much quicker now, similar to previous. It seems to have fixed it, but I'm super confused why that worked.Oily water tends to get blown up into the piping more.
This can cause big issues.
ChrisJ
1
Re: Need Recommendations on point of use electric water.heaters
How about a compromise? A tank you can fit in the loft, run it hot and mix down to 120F, and supply it with water from the remote propane water heater. The kitchen and bathroom sinks will get hot water quickly from the small tank, and the remote propane unit will ensure your guests won’t run our during a period of high demand.
Re: Enerjet boiler, flame in burner tubes
Try switching to a slow-opening gas control like a VR8200H or a step-opening one like a VR8200C. The old one might have been one of these, but you couldn't see it operate so you wouldn't know.
