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Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 7:57 am
by Simclardy
I just finished connecting all my refrigerant lines to my new solar heat pump system. I made two manifold so I could feed the 8 solar panels. The array photo is before I hooked it all up. Also the top route is regular pv panels. Cheers
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Re: Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 8:57 am
by Simclardy
Here is the manifold installedImage

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Re: Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 9:03 am
by Poland308
That's cool. Pun? What refrigerant? Or is it a what're. ( water) source heat pump conversion?
^ stupid auto correct

Re: Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:31 am
by Simclardy
It's r410a

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Re: Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 2:42 am
by Arno
Very cool! (pun not intended :roll: )

Are you also fitting the heat pump panels sandwiched behind the photovoltaic ones to draw excess heat away from them as well?

Bye, Arno.

Re: Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:36 pm
by Simclardy
Arno wrote:Very cool! (pun not intended :roll: )

Are you also fitting the heat pump panels sandwiched behind the photovoltaic ones to draw excess heat away from them as well?

Bye, Arno.
No I'm not, but that is a good question. Companies have tried to make duel purpose panels to do just what you describe and the end result is that it does not do ether quite as good. But technology changes all the time and that could be a possibility.

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Re: Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 7:59 am
by kimmy
That looks great! Well done! :shock:

Re: Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2017 8:37 pm
by Simclardy
kimmy wrote:That looks great! Well done! :shock:
Thanks! I fired it up last night and was pleasantly surprised at how quiet the unit is. Still need to hook up water lines so no heat yet.

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Re: Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 6:58 am
by bobruddy
I love the project. Would have never thought to tig copper. Do you use a copper filler or some other filler?

Also do you have information on your heat pump system or are you modeling it off someone else's you could share URL?.

I've had many thoughts about modifying my air source heat pump to use solar energy. The one I had would be to use a water tank heated by solar as a thermal energy bank and post heat the refrigerant before it goes back to the indoor compressor. Hence it would heat up out side first, then I could give it a boost.

Re: Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2017 8:11 am
by Poland308
In an air source heat pump your actually boiling off liquid refrigerant to pick up the heat. If you do use it to run through a water bath your going to need to watch the water temp close. To high and you will drive up your suction pressure, that in turn will drive up discharge pressure and shorten the life of your compressor. To cold and you run the risk of creating an ice builder, the ice can crush or puncture your lines causing leaks or line restrictions. And you need to use treated water, and monitor your water quality in your bath.

Re: Tig welding a copper manifold

Posted: Sun Apr 29, 2018 6:02 pm
by Simclardy
bobruddy wrote:I love the project. Would have never thought to tig copper. Do you use a copper filler or some other filler?

Also do you have information on your heat pump system or are you modeling it off someone else's you could share URL?.

I've had many thoughts about modifying my air source heat pump to use solar energy. The one I had would be to use a water tank heated by solar as a thermal energy bank and post heat the refrigerant before it goes back to the indoor compressor. Hence it would heat up out side first, then I could give it a boost.
Sorry for the late response. Surgery and injuries have thrown me out of my routine. The unit was purchased from sunpump in Canada. I have had some issues but overall it is working. As for tig welding copper I used #14 solid copper from romex. I use dc voltage.

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