Anybody use a chiller?
- Thread starter Cecil B.
- Start date
I just had a brainstorm. May not need a chiller after all. I discharge water into one of my outside ponds due to my open loop geothermal system. In the process of producing heat it actually droops the water temp in the winter IIRR. I think about 10 degree Fahrenheit. So the discharge is in the 40's F. This would be great fresh water to run through the iron filter and keep the trout tank cool. No additional well pumping needed if that is the case.
Will be calling the company that installed my geothermal system and the manufacturer.
Will be calling the company that installed my geothermal system and the manufacturer.
Turns out I will have about 5 gpm of close to 42 degree F water available to me whenever I turn a valve, adjacent to my discharge point of the geothermal, when the unit kicks on in the winter. In winter the until drops the well water about 10 degrees fahrenheit before discharging it. The geothermal people will be doing an install near me and will be happy to come over and install the plumbing needed. In the summer it heats the water about 10 degrees to about 62 F.
Only catch is I may have to manually do the backwash to my iron filter, as it will have to be when the geothermal until is running if my water is strictly from the discharge.
I had a concern obout copper contamination due to the coil in the unit, but it's actually a copper alloy that is much less prone to leeching than copper. It's cupro / nickel. I was assured it doesn't give anything off. Hopefully that is true.
Only catch is I may have to manually do the backwash to my iron filter, as it will have to be when the geothermal until is running if my water is strictly from the discharge.
I had a concern obout copper contamination due to the coil in the unit, but it's actually a copper alloy that is much less prone to leeching than copper. It's cupro / nickel. I was assured it doesn't give anything off. Hopefully that is true.
May go a different route yet. If there is some copper in the water after testing I may end up running some of all of the discharge through a stainless steel 3/4 inch coil. It would be coiled inside the tank about 7 times. Flow can be regulated to a lower flow if the water gets too cold, or even bypassed to discharge to the pond. This would mean my discharge would not have to run through my iron filter and I can use my iron filter for well water flow.
It all depends on what I find when I test the water for copper. Or I may just do the above to preclude the use of my iron filter.
It all depends on what I find when I test the water for copper. Or I may just do the above to preclude the use of my iron filter.
This may be a crazy suggestion but I am just trying to think outside the box. What if you took apart a refrigerator or a freezer and simply placed the inside heat exchanger inside of your sump (or other point off access to the water)? You could hook the unit up to an external temp controller like a PID and set the temp so that it cycles it on and off accordingly.
Edit: on second thought it's probably better to use a window AC unit since they are rated at much higher BTUs. Obviously you have copper in this scenario but you could coat the heat exchanger or have it in an aluminum container filled with its own water that does not mix with the tank water. Almost like a reverse double boiler in a sense.
Edit 2: I googled the heat exchanger and it looks like on most units it's entirely aluminum except for the copper elbows that stick out of the ends. These could be coated or made to not touch the water.
Edit: on second thought it's probably better to use a window AC unit since they are rated at much higher BTUs. Obviously you have copper in this scenario but you could coat the heat exchanger or have it in an aluminum container filled with its own water that does not mix with the tank water. Almost like a reverse double boiler in a sense.
Edit 2: I googled the heat exchanger and it looks like on most units it's entirely aluminum except for the copper elbows that stick out of the ends. These could be coated or made to not touch the water.
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Alright one last thing. Since all heat pumps create a differential you are in luck having an already cool basement as I am pretty certain it should be able to hit the temps you want given the hot side is sitting in your mid 60s temp basement. AC units have no problem keeping a room 75 degrees on a 100 degree day and that's a differential of 25 degrees. However you could also plumb the hot side to your geothermal if you really wanted to be crazy and use your tank to help heat your house in the winter. Either way it will help with heat in the winter whether it is heating the air in your basement or the water in your geothermal.
