We see great deals of unusual things on the Vineyard, however this was the strangest! Back in 2001, this property owner desired a HVAC system however had substantial restraints on the style. No ductwork in between floorings– so that implied there would be fan coil systems in the upper floorings. No drilling– so that suggested no geothermal. The remote chiller plant needed to be 300 feet from home– so that suggested cooled water (as VRV had not gotten here in the United States yet). No cooled water piping above the basement level– so that implied refrigerant lines to the DX coils in the fan coil systems.
To make all of this occur back in 2001, the HVAC professional needed to patch together a system developed around a Thermaltron R22 compressor rack (which we called the Dinosaur) that was cooled by a remote cooled water plant and sent out refrigerant to the 6 fan coil systems throughout your home.
Nelson Mechanical Design
The Thermaltron Dinosaur with its 6 compressors.
Nelson Mechanical Design
The Thermaltron Dinosaur’s circulators and heat exchangers.
This system, while exceptionally ineffective, worked enough that it lasted more than twenty years. When service expenses (stopped working compressors, stopped working circulators, blocked heat exchangers) began to accumulate, the house owner turned to us for a total retrofit of this system.
The property owner once again mentioned his conditions– he wished to leave the 6 aging fan coil systems in location, re-use the line sets buried in the walls, and link to the existing remote cooled water plant. And make the system more effective. And make it quieter. And make it much easier to service. And make the setup gorgeous.
The advantage was that the Thermaltron Dinosaur was really ineffective, loud, and tough to service so changing that would get us midway there. What would we change it with that would work with cooled water and DX coils? Our very first idea was a geothermal split system, however they were no longer used R22. We would require to source brand-new R410a DX coils for the fan coil systems and validate that the line sets buried in the walls would work based on their size and overall length.
Existing System Issues– Temperature Cascade, Inadequate Flow in Loop, Refrigerant Leaks
The Thermaltron Dinosaur was actually ineffective and actually appeared like a well painted science experiment. We discovered that all the compressors were various brand names and designs, all of the water to refrigerant heat exchangers were various brand names and designs, and there was an awful temperature level waterfall throughout the whole rack with the very first compressor getting great cool water and the 6th compressor dealing with water warmed up by the previous 5 compressors! (No marvel compressors 5 and 6 had actually been altered various times over the previous 20 years.)
Nelson Mechanical Design
The brand-new within water loop with tees for the 6 brand-new heatpump. ยป …
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