Heat pump experiments using crawl spaces as ground-to-air heat exchangers: Final report
Technical Report
·
OSTI ID:7007963
Experiments have been performed during the winter of 1983 to 1984 with three identical unoccupied houses equipped with heat pumps installed in three different configurations: conventional, single pass crawl space assisted and total recycle crawl space assisted. Analysis of the data obtained shows that the crawl space air is warmed by the ground under the crawl space and also by heat leaked from the house floor and heat ducts. The performance of the heat pumps in the crawl space assisted configurations increased significantly. The heating loads of the houses also increased, largely offsetting the heat pump performance gains. An experimentally-verified model of the crawl space configurations based on DOE-2.1B was used to simulate seasonal system performance in three locations under a variety of operating strategies and ranges. Overall, no significant savings were realized for crawl space-assisted configurations. Cold climates were found conducive to efficient crawl space utilization. Seasonal savings of 3% were found for the total recycle system in Madison. Both crawl space systems in milder climates showed negligible or negative benefits. A principal crawl space-assisted system attribute was found to be a significant reduction in peak electrical demand (25 to 30) percent from reduced heat pump defrost operation coincident with backup resistance heating.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA); Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- OSTI ID:
- 7007963
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-EM-4908; ON: DE87004108
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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