[Greenbuilding] in hot water

[Clarke Olsen]

   I'm not trying to thwart stratification, that will happen regardless. The transfer loop is finite: the greater the differential, 
the less heat will be sent back to the collector. Of course, this is moot if we use the storage medium directly, pulling 
from the bottom and dumping gently into the top, making a case for stratification. This leads to a question I was hoping 
for advice on: should I worry about the, um.. condition of my 1,000 gal of warm water? 
Clarke Olsen
clarkeolsendesign
373 route 203
Spencertown, NY 12165 
USA
518-392-4640
colsen at taconic.net




On Jul 5, 2012, at 2:17 PM, Corwyn wrote:

> On 7/5/2012 9:19 AM, Clarke Olsen wrote:
>> All heat exchangers have a problem; transfer can never be total.
> 
> True, but I was trying to avoid complicating the explanation to try to get the idea across.
> 
> Shouldn't running through the
>> greatest differential extract the most? I can appreciate the concept of obtaining a high temp. in the
>> upper strata, but storage considerations suggest the efficiency of more uniform temperatures.
> 
> How's that?  Stratification allows the greater efficiency I demonstrated.  If the whole tank is one temperature, you are limited to that temperature.  If the tank is stratified, you can extract heat into a higher temperature region, while still maintaining a lower temperature region in which to extract heat, once the incoming water has cooled down.  It is a way of maintaining the greatest differential, which is not available to a system that is uniformly at a given temp.
> 
> You will note in my explanation that the temperature of the outgoing water (back to the collectors) is lower in the top down approach.  This means in essence that the water has seen a greater differential, and thus more efficient heat exchange.  The water is 7.5° colder, which also means that the collector will function more efficiently.
> 
> Thank You Kindly,
> 
> Corwyn
> 
> -- 
> Topher Belknap
> Green Fret Consulting
> Kermit didn't know the half of it...
> http://www.greenfret.com/
> topher at greenfret.com
> (207) 882-7652
> 
> 
> 
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