August 2010 Meeting “Alternative Heating”
Melbourne Branch monthly meeting August 18th 2010
This meeting was held at 5:45pm on Wednesday August 18th at the offices of URS, level 6 no 1 Southbank boulevard, Southbank (Click here for a map)
The topic:
Alternative Heating
meeting description
Conveners: Simon Wilson and Peter Wonfor
Many home heating systems use gas-fired forced hot air, and while relatively simple to install these systems are not easy to balance, especially on a flexible basis as heating requirements change on a seasonal and occupancy basis. The result is that the whole home gets heated the same way as conditions change, with consequential efficiency and running cost penalties. Alternatives are available in terms of both the heat source and heat delivery to the desired location. This meeting explored ground-sourced heat pumps as a heat source and hydronic distribution of the heat.
Ground-source Heat Pumps
Speakers: Dr. Donald Payne and Justin McFarlane described the possibilities offered by Direct GeoExchange technology ground source heat pump systems such as Direct Energy’s EarthLinked® Geothermal Heating & Cooling System. Dr. Payne lectures at the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne, chairs the direct use geothermal sub-committee of the Australian Geothermal Energy Group (AGEG), and also lectures at the accreditation days for installers of the EarthLinked® technology. Justin McFarlane is Sales director at Direct Energy.
Hydronic Heating
Speakers: Clint Kennedy and Nick Callewaert from Hunt Heating, a company specializing in energy efficient and enviroinmentally friendly hydronic heating, described the advantages of hydronic heating in terms of its efficiency, flexibility, and adaptability to various heat sources.
Laurie Phillips of our own branch described the system he installed back in the 1980s. This gave an insight into the challenges faced by installers, as well as the proven effectiveness and reliability of his system.
This was a very interesting meeting;
Presentations:
Click here for Donald Payne and Justin McFarlane talk on ground sourced heat pump systems, including some fascinating application examples.
Click here for Clint Kennedy and Nick Callewaert hydronic heating slides.
Laurie Phillips diagrams are available here.
Click here for his schematic. This shows his complete hydronic and hot water heating system. It needs to be magnified a bit (150%) to display the text clearly.
Click here for photos of his new solar hot water storage tank. Take a look at the quality of thermal insulation inside!
