Geothermal Heating from Pinkerton Hot Springs at Colorado Timberline Academy, Durango, Colorado. Final Technical Report

摘要

The efforts to establish a greater pool of knowledge in the field of low temperature heat transfer for the application of geothermal spring waters to space heating are described. A comprehensive set of heat loss experiments involving passive radiant heating panels is conducted and the results presented in an easily interpretable form. Among the conclusions are the facts that heating a 65 to 70 F exp 0 space with 90 to 100 F exp 0 liquids is a practical aim. The results are compared with the much lower rates published in the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers SYSTEMS, 1976. A heat exchange chamber consisting of a 1000 gallon three compartment, insulated and buried tank is constructed and a control and pumping building erected over the tank. The tank is intended to handle the flow of geothermal waters from Pinkerton Hot Springs at 50 GPM prior to the wasting of the spring water at a disposal location. Approximately 375,000 Btu per hour should be available for heating assuming a 15 F exp 0 drop in water temperature. A combination of the panel heat loss experiments, construction of the heat exchange devices and ongoing collection of heat loss numbers adds to the knowledge available to engineers in sizing low temperature heat systems, useful in both solar and geothermal applications where source temperature may be often below 110 F exp 0 . (ERA citation 09:039918)