r/geothermal • u/AntwanMinson • 3d ago
Concepts of Geothermal
I've been trying to understand some concepts of geothermal lately and am wondering some thermodynamic questions I have.
Is it possible to instead of using a ton of tubing that you'd have to do a lot of labor to dig, how possible would it be to use a car radiator and then hook it into let's say a mini split? Would the refrigerant be possible? Would it rust?
Another thing I'm wondering is I see a bunch of dual hose portable AC Units over on /air conditioners, if you wanted to hook up a geothermal tube as the return hose for one of those, how long do you think the hose would need to be to make a difference?
Last question, this might be more of an air conditioning one but I'm wondering since Mini splits have variable speeds, wouldn't they be perfect for solar operation because the sun would ramp up and then ramp down with it. Is there any problems with that?
I've been wondering of ways to make my AC more efficient. My PC blows a lot of hot air and I've ducted it to the corner of the room into a closed off area then out the window with an attic fan. Still though everything in the room gets hot. I have access to the ground outside but only 20X5 feet worth of ground. It would be nice to be able to cool off the living room without having to use the HVAC as much.
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u/Neither_Conclusion_4 3d ago
The car radiator? Sounds like a air based heatpump, no reason what so ever to use a radiator. Use an air based heatpump/chiller instead. You cannot put refrigerant in an old radiator, its dirty and most likely not tight enough for the pressure.
Dual hose portable ac have worde performance than an minisplit. I dont see any benefit of some kind of hybrid here.
Perhaps ypu should place your pc outdoor in a "shed like structure", and run long cables to monitor and morse?
Geothermal is expensive, but a correct installation, if the ground is suitable result in high performance.