solar->geo injection study

zacmobile

Here is an interesting study done by an architect in the uk who is injecting solar hot water into his geo loop. Pretty simple set-up, his own home brew panels that are basically pool heating panels that are encased in plexiglass & directly connected to his ground loop. He apparently boosted his heat pumps efficiency from a COP of 2.8 to 4.8. If you check out the drilling videos you may see why his initial COP was so low; they dumped dry bentonite powder down the bore holes instead of liquid grout for some unknown reason!! 8-O Still, I think we may see more applications of annualized solar capture in the future.

<a href="http://chargingtheearth.blogspot.ca/">http://chargingtheearth.blogspot.ca/</a>

Mark Eatherton

Heat dominated loads...

I have heard that in some areas that are primarily heat dominated, that if you are dealing with a static aquifer, that the ground can freeze, and in fact swell (i've not personally seen it) thereby significantly dropping the COP of the WSHP's.



I have the opportunity to experiment with this on my mountain home. I drilled a 10' deep hole into the hard pan shale, and my preliminary test showed that the shale does hold heat fairly well. I'd originally installed it as a heat dump, but had thoughts in the back of my mind for radiational cooling from my ceiling, and the remote possibility of seasonal energy storage. It looks promising...



I wrote a series of articles on alternatives to conventional snowmelt systems. The Japanese have been using conventional water wells at 40 degrees F to do this for some very large surface areas for a long time. Sure, it doesn't respond to fast moving storms like a boiler fired system would, but the only parasitic cost is that of the pump moving water from the well, through the system, and back to a return well.



Thanks for sharing.



ME