oops.....
sorry to kick in like this, but for geothermal cooling, and if you want to keep it cheap, well...... i've been thinking about it... and searching for info.
Keep in mind that there are still a few variables, like the need to calculate flowrate/pump dimensions and such, but anyways.
Also, i'm using metrics here, please convert to feet/inches etc yourself.
The idea of going geo is good, as it will allow you to have a waterloop with a PERM temp of something like 11 to 13 C° if you do it right... and the best way is doing it vertical.
forget reservoirs, cannisters, coils etc and esspecially diggin an huge olympic swimming pool sized pit/sleeve
Actually, depending on yr housing, you could do it from within your basement/garage iso backyard. Also, you do not need metal/copper pipes.. PVC will do. Actually the PVC type they use for electricity or water could be just what you need.
heres what you need (1 set):
- 1 PVC tube/pipe 5 to 6 meters long , 50 millimeter across (about 2 inches) "wall" thickness 1.5 to 2 mm (1/12 th inch)
- 1 PVC tube/pipe 4.5 to 5.5 m long , 32 mm across (about 1.2 inches) "wall" thickness 1.5 to 2 mm (1/12 th inch)
- 1 T-piece 50mm
- 1 conversion piece 32-50mm (adjusters or whatever its called)
- 1 "stop" 50mm
- 1 "elbow" 32mm
I suggest to use 4 to 6 (or even more) sets of above.
note: different sizes/lenghts of PVC can be used, depending on what is the cheapest in your area. But these dimensions kinda "match" on different levels, even capilarity
On top of that you need some extra lenght pipes/tubes of these dimentions to connect the sets together (1, 2, 3 meters maybe depending on the number of sets you gonna use). some pvc glue. some garden hose. And some barbs/connectors as you see fit, as this material list is not supercomplete.
Also... you need a steel or other strong/sturdy metal pipe about 4-6 meters long (shorter is possible, but we want some control over it). This pipe should be welded shut/blocked on one end and with a barb/jacket to attach a garden hose to it. Cuz this pipe will be your "drill". (see- i said no digging
)
However, you still might need a spade/shovel to dig
a 50-60 cm square "pit" about 60cm (2 feet) deep; depending on where you frostline is. 60 cm should be safe unless you live in siberia.
If you plan to do this in yr garden, you also need to dig sleeves 60 cm deep towards the house.
If you do this in your basement, you might not need the "pit", but anyway...
Lets get started, shall we?
- Glue the 50 mm "stops" to ONE end of the 50mm tubes/pipes and the 50mm T-pieces to the other end.
Watch out! do this correctly. Do NOT make a T out of your pipe, but make it so that you can still "look thru" the length of your pipe.
Wrong: ========I
Correct: ======O==
(see what i mean?)
- Glue the 32mm elbows to one end of the 32mm pipes
- slide on the 32-to-50mm onto the 32mm pipes from the bottom on and glue when they hit the elbows
Watch out! do this correctly. Do it with the 50mm down, as these 32mm will be lowered into and glued to the 50mm
Wrong: -----=[-7
Correct: -----]=-7
(see what i mean?)
- Ok, start with digging the "pit" 60 x 60 x 60. (do not forget sleeves towards the house). Once that done, attach the steel "drill" to the garden hose, apply water and hold the pipe upright in one of the corners of the pit. Watch it "dig" itself in This takes about 5 to 15 minutes per meter depending on soil conditions.
Once it has basically dug itself in completely, pull it out (cut the water on time).
- Lower the 50mm pipe with the closed/sealed end down into the drilled hole.
note: You'll probably will have to weight it down with someting.
- repeat "drilling" and lowering 5mm in the other corners of the pit till all 50mm pipes are in place
- use the extra 50mm pipes to connect the pipes at the T's together (1-2 , 3-4)
- lower the 32mm pipes into the 50mm and glue the "adjusters" to the T's
- attach (garden)hose to the elbow of the first "inner" 32mm pipe
- attach (garden)hose to the elbow of the last "inner" 32mm pipe
- use the extra 32mm pipes to connect the other 32mm pipes at the elbows together (2-3)
Ok, now... fill slowly with water (gardenhose is handy) and flush it through for a while, if you are shure you have no leaks throw all the soil back into the pit. The (garden)hose in the sleeves towards your house/connection point, and fill up the sleeves.
Now, if you got more then enough spare pipes, you could use them iso the hose, or you could try to run the hose through those spare pipes for added strenght.
The only thing left is to determine how to connect this all up, either directly to your PC/WC system (which means no more LAN parties and lotsa waterwetter to add) or to a heat exchanger reservoir is up to you. I've got a few ideas, but thats another story.
Also, this might need a serious pump, though i have no idea (yet) on how serious, as the "weight" of the water is quite balanced. The flowrate could play a role depending on the setup from here on. If you would use this as a intermediate exchange reservoir, thus not directly fed into your PC/WC... you do not need to worry about flow... just about "volume", as you want to pump this around as slowly as possible.
One thing i know for sure is: the water will have approx 11 C° yearround. And the more sets you use the longer you can keep it at this temperature. As each "set" contains approx 3 gallons of water (+10 liters). So, if you use 4 sets as i suggest you've got about 12 gallons of water to heat up... and THAT could take a while
Anyway, this is basically the short version... and if someone has posted something like it before i am very sorry. Comments welcome.
note i take no responsability if you "drill" into some secret nuke shelter. However, if you struck oil... lemme know, or better yet... make me shareholder
