I have no idea of how much it cost to drill a 100 ft or more well through clay soil. I do agree that a vertical pipe would probably be more effective than a horizontal pipe. We had a water well drilled in southwest Missouri some years ago. With casing but no pump that was $8,000. The ground in the area of Table Rock Lake is limestone with a LOT of gravel near the “soil” surface. Hand digging a hole for fence posts using a post hole digger was very difficult.
That brings up another unfinished project on Radiant floor heating. Start with a solar water heater as shown in an area of Builditsolar. It is my understanding that heat does not travel at all quickly through pex so the pex should be good for the distance from the solar water heater to the hot water storage tank. Run pex/pipe insulation/larger diameter pvc pipe underground to a large and well insulated water storage tank. Within the tank run the heated water through a large coil of copper pipe. That heats the potable water that then runs to an on-demand electric water heater (in case water in the tank is not hot enough) and then to faucets and then through piping under the floor. Bobby Keeland Originally from northwest Arkansas but now in southern Louisiana On Sun, Mar 21, 2021 at 11:41 AM Peri Hartman via EV <ev@lists.evdl.org> wrote: > Another thought, which might be more effective, is to drill vertically > and insert a loop of small diameter pipe. For example, you could drill > several 1.5" bores down 200 or 300 feet and insert a loop of 1/2" pex. > I'm not sure how much drilling costs, but I know people are > experimenting with this technique, particularly for use in urban areas. > > On advantage of deep bores is you'll hit water tables which will make a > better heat sync both in the sense of better contact with the tubing and > more mass for dissipation. > > Peri > > << Annoyed by leaf blowers ? https://quietcleanseattle.org/ >> > > ------ Original Message ------ > From: "Bobby Keeland via EV" <ev@lists.evdl.org> > To: "Peter VanDerWal" <e...@vanderwal.us> > Cc: "Bobby Keeland" <keela...@gmail.com>; "Electric Vehicle Discussion > List" <ev@lists.evdl.org> > Sent: 21-Mar-21 9:31:12 AM > Subject: Re: [EVDL] Projects > > >Yes Peter VanDerWal (thanks for the reply) I am aware of all that you > said. > >I was planning on using at least 4 smooth wall tubes that are buried about > >10 feet deep with a downward slope away from the house. The earth tubes > >will be about 100 feet long, and the soil here is almost pure clay > >(southern Louisiana in the Atchafalaya Basin). > > > >A little over a year ago we had a heat source mini-split installed so we > >got a jump on being more efficient. The earth tube project has not > actually > >physically started yet. It’s more of a thinking and study real life > >experiences at this point. > > > >Right now I’m more interested in working on the 1951 Chevy pickup (we > >actually use pickups as pickups rather than as a manly car). There is a > guy > >on YouTube who is showing his complete process of moving a 1952 Chevy > >pickup onto an S-10 pickup frame. Something like that plus an electric > >motor and batteries (not lead acid) is what I have in mind. > > > >Another possible project is converting a riding lawn mower and Mantis > >tiller to battery electric. I watch Jehu Garcia a lot. There is never a > >shortage of possible projects. > > > >Bobby Keeland > >Not a lot of money, but I do have time and interest. > > > > > >On Sat, Mar 20, 2021 at 11:52 PM Peter VanDerWal <e...@vanderwal.us> > wrote: > > > >> Bobby, have you done any research on Earth Tubes? Not just looking up > >> testimonials and anecdotes, but looked for actual studies? > >> > >> I was really yped about earth tubes for a while until I looked into > them > >> and found a few studies. I found a lot of people claiming that all > they > >> did was dig 2 foot deep trenchs and burried 30 feet of tube and 'Wow, > what > >> a difference' > >> But the actual studies with measurements, etc. tell a different story. > >> > >> First of all you need to go a LOT deeper than 2 feeet, 6-8 foot > minimum. > >> One study I found was done in India as I recall, they were studying > using > >> Earth Tubes to cool a green house. > >> They used 4 tubes 100 feet long, 8 foot deep spaced 6 feet apart. The > fan > >> used to drive the air through them consumed 400-450 watts and ran 24 > hours > >> a day. It was effective at the begining of summer, but by the middle > of > >> summer the output air temps had climbed to around 80 degrees, the green > >> house temps were closer to 90 degrees. > >> > >> I also read lots of feedback from individuals that were having problems > >> with mold due to condensation in the earth tubes. That is solvable, by > >> making sure the tubes angle down, away from the house and you have > some way > >> to drain the moisture from them. > >> > >> My mini-split heat pump on the other hand uses about 1/2 the energy per > >> day to cool my house and output air temp is around 50-60 degrees an the > >> temp in the house stays below 76. I could get it cooler, but it would > use > >> more energy and I'm comfortable at that temp. > >> > >> So the mini-split is more effective, for less energy and a LOT less > work > >> to install. If you have to hire someone to dig the trenches, the > >> mini-split is probably cheaper. > >> > >> Sometimes the best solution is NOT the simplest solution. > >> > >> My PGP public key: https://vanderwal.us/evdl_pgp.key > >> > >> March 19, 2021 6:05 PM, "Bobby Keeland via EV" <ev@lists.evdl.org> > wrote: > >> > >> > In a previous posting I said: > >> > <Unfortunately I’m still working on my solar > >> > <water heater, my battery backup for the solar > >> > <panels, earth tubes and many other > >> > <projects. > >> > > >> > >-------------- next part -------------- > >An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > >URL: < > http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20210321/8ecfa3a4/attachment.html > > > >_______________________________________________ > >UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > >ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/ > >LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/ > LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://lists.evdl.org/private.cgi/ev-evdl.org/attachments/20210321/d3f33a2c/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub ARCHIVE: http://www.evdl.org/archive/ LIST INFO: http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org
