Underground water pipes.

coral keeper

Active Member
I was just wondering, is it possible to put pipes full of water under ground deep enough for the water temp to be 55F?
 

reefforbrains

Active Member
Yes it is.
Thats geothermal heating/cooling.
But it doesnt get that cold. You need to dig fairly deep to get to stable year round temp and that temp is more in the upwards of around 60.
Different locations have slightly different temps until you get down deep.
Assuming you want to dig a hole in your property you really need to bury several hundred feet of pipe to have it be effective.
back in NV I was really thinking of trying it for a larger closed loop but when I got into the pricing it just didnt make sense for my needs. I was aiming for 1500 gallons for my system so smaller might be feasible.
When I was thinking about it I got discouraged because of some of the depths people were telling me I needed to go but with all the different materials there might be different options round here. Smaller system might be pretty easy with the right approach but I dont know.
Your Pop ok with you digging some trenches? If so then you could probably make something work but it really isnt cost effective for just a single tank unless you were already going to convert the house and wanted to just piggyback the project.
Im local and always down for a project if you decide to do it.
Poke around for what kind of pull you need for your systems volume and then see if it makes sense for a build.
Good luck.
-RFB
 

coral keeper

Active Member
I was thinkin of instead of using a chiller, just dig deep enough and put pipes, hook it up to a pump, pump it through the ground and into the tank. I was thinking of doing this to the coldwater tank(about 50-60 gallons). My dad was actually the one who thought of this. So, instead of using a chiller, use the ground. So, how exactly deep does it have to be so it can cool down water to 55F? We have pipes underground for our sinks, showers, ect and I check the temp of the water and it was 64F. The pipes are only like 1.5 ft deep.
 

reefforbrains

Active Member
I would take a wild stab and guess to go at least 8 ft.
Keep in mind that your going to be flowing water through them so while water that comes from a well or ect will continue cold as long as you want, a closed loop is taking warm water from topside down underground to cool it off.
The exchange is a two way street. The underground flow will cool the water but will also warm the earth and negate the cooling effects if you dont have proper space between the pipe and have enough lag time built into your system to maximize the exposure.
 

coral keeper

Active Member
Ok. Right now I'm making small holes that are like 5 inches wide and making them like 5+ feed deep, then I'm going to get a jar of water, close it up and put a thermometer in the jar and in a day or 2 dig it back out and check the temp. What do you think? I already made a 4 ft deep hole in the back yard and might make it a bit deeper.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
At some point the energy expenditure of a pump pushing water that far up and down will be more than a chiller.
 

1journeyman

Active Member
Originally Posted by Coral Keeper
http:///forum/post/2564230
Ok. Right now I'm making small holes that are like 5 inches wide and making them like 5+ feed deep, then I'm going to get a jar of water, close it up and put a thermometer in the jar and in a day or 2 dig it back out and check the temp. What do you think? I already made a 4 ft deep hole in the back yard and might make it a bit deeper.
That's not really going to tell you a lot. Remember that the water is going to constantly be on the move the way you are currently talking about doing.
 

coral keeper

Active Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
http:///forum/post/2564255
Not saying any of that, hehe.
Just pointing out some of the potential things to consider.
Oh ok. How strong of a pump do you think I'll need and how much will the pump probably cost? How much piping do you think I will need?
 

reefforbrains

Active Member
If you have a ditch-witch or similar trencher, then go for 5ft deep and run 300ft of 2inch pipe with neighborhood of 400gph on the finished outlet and you will probably be fine for such a small tank.
Using seemless corners and trying to smooth the flow as much as possible your still going to need a pretty burly pump.
Just the 300ft of pipe will cost some money and some time, Not to mention a few hundred ft of trenching all for what can only be considered a GUESS at the outcome.
Bright side is you will have an extra 50 gallons of water in your lines underground further expanding your system.
 

coral keeper

Active Member
Originally Posted by ReefForBrains
http:///forum/post/2564401
If you have a ditch-witch or similar trencher, then go for 5ft deep and run 300ft of 2inch pipe with neighborhood of 400gph on the finished outlet and you will probably be fine for such a small tank.
Using seemless corners and trying to smooth the flow as much as possible your still going to need a pretty burly pump.
Just the 300ft of pipe will cost some money and some time, Not to mention a few hundred ft of trenching all for what can only be considered a GUESS at the outcome.
Bright side is you will have an extra 50 gallons of water in your lines underground further expanding your system.
Yeah, this is a gamble. Hmm... Need to think about this.
 

reefforbrains

Active Member
try a tiny closed loop on a cheapo 10 gallon.
Just try something like this in a test patch of a 10ft long and see how your results
tank pump

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Return <

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Just a thought
compare on a nice warm day for Tank temk vrs ambient room temp.
 

coral keeper

Active Member
Originally Posted by ReefForBrains
http:///forum/post/2564418
try a tiny closed loop on a cheapo 10 gallon.
Just try something like this in a test patch of a 10ft long and see how your results
tank pump

[hr]
>
...................<

[hr]
....................

[hr]
>
Return <

[hr]
Just a thought
compare on a nice warm day for Tank temk vrs ambient room temp.
Yeah, I'm probably going to try that.
 

darknes

Active Member
Originally Posted by 1journeyman
http:///forum/post/2564231
At some point the energy expenditure of a pump pushing water that far up and down will be more than a chiller.
Not true. If he plumbs it correctly like a geothermal heat pump would be, it would in essence be a closed loop. The pump would only be pushing through any bends (and of course drag on the pipe walls).
 

reefforbrains

Active Member
for the test I would say anything that is thin wall so you can get max exposure and transfer.
Make sure it wont leech chem and it is something you can glue or fit together and work on.
Perhaps Funny pipe will work for the test? Comes in 200ft rolls available at HD or Lowes
 
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