Can inlet water temperature bee too hot on ground-source heat pump?

wklopf

I'm toying with an idea and need some advice. I have a ground-source heat pump system. What I am thinking of trying is to install some flat plate collectors to collect heat to be stored by a phase change material which has phase change temperature of about 95 F. The inlet water from the ground loop is 54 F. What would a heat pump do with an inlet water temperature of 95 degrees? Automatic three-way ball valves are available. Would switching between two heat souces be feasible? The other option which I can think of would be a separate air handler unit with a liquid-air heat exchanger and a damper system to select between the heat sources. Any thoughts? Thanks.

SuperJ

I used to work with ClimateMaster heatpumps.
Their submittal data went up to 120F entering. The lower the lift (closer the source and load temperatures) the more efficient but the capacity and amp draw will increase. 95F entering in heating mode shouldn't be a problem with any extended range heat pump. Make sure your flowrate is appropriate in both configs.

wklopf

Thank you for your reply. My system is a Climatemaster. I looked up the information which you mentioned and found that they show inlet temperatures of up to 120 F for cooling, but the table is blank above 90 degrees for heating. Any ideas why?

wklopf

Sorry, I just noticed that this table applies when there is no "vFlow." When "vFlow" is there, data for heating goes on up to 120 degrees. Now I have to figure out what vFlow is and do I have it.

unclejohn

I think it would bang the compressor off on high head. It would be the same as running your air to air heat pump in the heating mode on a 95* day.

pecmsg

wklopf said:

I'm toying with an idea and need some advice. I have a ground-source heat pump system. What I am thinking of trying is to install some flat plate collectors to collect heat to be stored by a phase change material which has phase change temperature of about 95 F. The inlet water from the ground loop is 54 F. What would a heat pump do with an inlet water temperature of 95 degrees? Automatic three-way ball valves are available. Would switching between two heat souces be feasible? The other option which I can think of would be a separate air handler unit with a liquid-air heat exchanger and a damper system to select between the heat sources. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Trip on High Head Safety!