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Columns

Letters to the Editor: December 2020

letters to editor
December 4, 2020

The following remarks were made regarding the article “Due diligence” written by John Siegenthaler, principal, Appropriate Designs, published in the October 2020 issue of Plumbing & Mechanical:

 

Thank you for the excellent explanation for using two-pipe buffer tanks — I’ve long been a proponent of these tanks for geo applications. In my personal experience, mid-tank temperature sensing is great if holding the tank at temperature 24/7 on multi-zone hydronic applications, but can result in extra operation time and kW use by the geo equipment, and should be managed by a reset control as you suggest with warm weather shutdown to prevent heating the tank during the AC period. I also find that under some circumstances of flow, simply bypassing the tank in which flow through the geo and connected load is equal, that the mid-tank sensor control can keep the geo equipment operating past its thermal high pressure/temperature limit. I choose to also incorporate a return line sensor limit control for the geo to prevent nuisance high-pressure lockouts and unnecessary extra stress on the compressor, which can operate above design conditions when all flow bypasses the buffer tank.

Jeff Persons // Delaware, Ohio

 

Plumbing & Mechanical wants to hear your thoughts. If you have any comments concerning our articles or other topics related to the HVAC industry, submit them at www.pmmag.com/submit-a-letter for possible inclusion in the Letters to the Editor section of the magazine.

KEYWORDS: buffer tanks geothermal hydronic systems

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