DIY Ground Source Heat Pump + PV Array -- No Heat Bills!

In this very ambitious project, Jerry goes through all the details on installing a 5000 watt PV system and a 2 ton Ground Source Heat Pump. Together they provide all of the space heating and cooling and hot water.  

No heat bills and very low emissions.

The ground loops for the Ground Source Heat Pump

Jerry started by installing a 5000 watt PV system on his garage roof.

5 KW grid tie PV array on garage roof.

The PV system is grid tied and uses an Aurora 6000 watt grid tie inverter to produce house power and to interface with the grid. Jerry is paid 14 cents per KWH generated via the net metering agreement with his utility and is also able to sell SRECs to the utility to allow them to meet their renewable energy generation requirements with the state of NJ.

The 6000 watt grid-tied string type inverter for the PV system.

Once the PV system was installed, Jerry installed a Ground Source Heat Pump to efficiently use the PV generated electricity to both heat and cool his house. The GSHP installation involved digging a 300 ft long 8 ft deep trench, laying out the ground loops in the trench, installing the 2 ton heat pump.

The 300 ft long trench for the three GSHP ground loops.

The 2 ton ClimateMaster water to air heat pump.

In addition to installing the 2 ton heat pump, Jerry also designed and installed a duct system to distribute heating and cooling to the house.

All the details on the DIY GSHP + PV system in a 26 page pdf...


Gary
January 22, 2014

Building Large Cylindrical Tanks for Solar Heat Storage

Alan Rushforth of Rushforth Solar provides detailed information on building large cylindrical water tanks for storing heat. These tanks are commonly used to store heat generated by an array of solar collectors in space and water heating applications.

One of Alan's tanks

The tanks that Alan makes typically range from a thousand gallons up 4000+ gallons, but the design could certainly be used for smaller tanks that would be typical of residential solar applications.

This design is very structurally efficient, light weight, and material efficient.

The tanks consist of aluminum  sheet wrapped into a cylinder, which is then lined with rigid foam board insulation.  

The outer aluminum sheet wall with layers of insulation inside.

An EPDM liner is then installed to contain the water.

The EPDM tank liner being installed

Alan also includes some very helpful material on building heat exchangers for these large tanks.

Thanks very much to Alan for providing this material!

Stainless steel pipe coil heat exchanger.

Alan's full description on building these tanks ...

Gary

Home Power Digital Subscription Deal

I don't usually do deal announcements, but could not pass up this one.

Home Power Magazine is doing 50% off their digital subscription rate for a while.  So, a 3 year digital subscription that also includes access to 20+ years of back articles is now $11.95 -- what a deal!!

https://www.homepower.com/subscribe-and-save?template=subscribe

If you are not familiar with Home Power, its probably the best source out their for detailed articles on DIY solar and other renewable energy projects -- aside from Build-It-Solar of course :)

Gary