Quote:
Originally Posted by dremd
If you had the slightest flow I think it would work well, but I don't know how much advantage you would get over Diesel Johns setup.
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As I understand it, slow flow is better than fast flow vis a vis heat exchange--slow gives more exposure time on the fins, so is more complete & efficient.
I thunk of this after looking at the basement of a neighbor's house across the lake. His house is pier and beam foundation, and a spring flows under the house in wet (winter) season, such that ground water @ ~50 degrees is channeled through a ~3" PVC pipe at a rate maybe ~4X what you'd get filling your bathtub at full blast. In other words, plenty. So, I figure you could stick a conventional heat pump down there, but remove and discard the fan and its motor, with the heat exchanger immersed in a box with Mother Nature providing the ground water via gravity flow over the fins. The water then goes on its merry way to the lake, as always.
This saves the need for trenches, slinkies, fluid pumps, etc. and is quiet. The freon inside the heat exchanger does not know or care if there is air or water on the out side of the fins.
Installation of a french drain would intersect whatever subsurface water seeps or "pipes" there may be in the earth, and then channel such water away from the foundation while using its heat. So, french drain instead of trenches and slinkies.