Water Source Heat Pump

[Neal Lewis]

I was in a large condo building today that used a water source heat pump system for heating and cooling the entire building. The condenser unit is inside the condo with hoses hooked up to it going to the hot water loop and cooling tower.

I'm having difficulty understanding the operation of the sytem, especially having the condenser unit at the interior. Anybody familiar with this type of system? I checked the McQuay website, but there's little info on the workings of the system.

Thanks

[Marc]

I've installed 2 such systems made by FHP (Florida Heat Pump). Attic or closet installation is common, but they were not split systems such as yours is. They were packages and they get their coolant from a water well. It's a waste of water.

Marc

[Richard Saunders]

How does it waste water?

[Terence McCann]

Here ya go Neil:

McQuay Heat Pump Design Manual

If this doesn't help we can discuss further.

[Tom Raymond]

I've installed 2 such systems made by FHP (Florida Heat Pump). Attic or closet installation is common, but they were not split systems such as yours is. They were packages and they get their coolant from a water well. It's a waste of water.

Marc

Open loop heat pumps return the water to its source, or more accurately, very close to its source. Using a stream as the source the return would be several feet down stream of the inlet, for a pond they would be tens of feet apart, or for your well the intake should be a few feet off the bottom with the return several feet above that. The water is a vehicle for moving heat, it doesn't get consumed.

Are you talking about evaporative loss from a cooling tower?

Tom

[Terence McCann]

There was a mid-size, three story, office building that an HVAC company I use to work with serviced. It used well water for the water source heat pumps. I can vaguely recall the main equipment room but the only thing that I really remember about the system was the terrible problem with scale. That was back around the latter part of the 80s.

[Jim Katen]

I've installed 2 such systems made by FHP (Florida Heat Pump). Attic or closet installation is common, but they were not split systems such as yours is. They were packages and they get their coolant from a water well. It's a waste of water.

Marc

Open loop heat pumps return the water to its source, or more accurately, very close to its source. Using a stream as the source the return would be several feet down stream of the inlet, for a pond they would be tens of feet apart, or for your well the intake should be a few feet off the bottom with the return several feet above that. The water is a vehicle for moving heat, it doesn't get consumed.

Are you talking about evaporative loss from a cooling tower?

Tom

A small condo building near me uses water-source heat pumps that are plumbed with city water. When those suckers are running, fresh water runs in one end and heated (or cooled) water runs out the other end, right into the building drain and into the public sewer.

The first time I inspected one of these units, I just stood there staring and saying to myself, "They've got to be freakin kidding me."

- Jim Katen, Oregon

[Tom Raymond]

Damn, and I thought my water meter spun too much.

Tom

[Terence McCann]

Back when I first got into the business it was not at all unusual to see recips up in the 75 ton range being water cooled (one of the perks of living next to a Great Lake). The downtown office buildings were loaded with them. However as the 1st energy crunch came around water towers made a lot more sense.

[Jim Morrison]

A small condo building near me uses water-source heat pumps that are plumbed with city water. When those suckers are running, fresh water runs in one end and heated (or cooled) water runs out the other end, right into the building drain and into the public sewer.

The first time I inspected one of these units, I just stood there staring and saying to myself, "They've got to be freakin kidding me."

- Jim Katen, Oregon

I inspected a house across the street from the one I'd been raised in, about 10 years or so ago, and had nearly the same reaction. They had regular-ass cold water running through an 'A' coil in an air handler and then into a basement sink and I guessed it had been running that way since about 1950. Typical water usage in that area is about $1200-1500/year. I can't imagine what their bill was, but my (sanitized for publication) thought was the same: "You've got to be f***kin' kidding me."