Ah, the gentlemen from the engineering newsgroup where Abby Normal is helping you ..... I thought I recognized the style of writting.
I never heard of ECR tech, there is another brand but I can't recall what it is that is DX as well. Does ECR make their own air handlers or do they just make the remote system that attaches to anothers air handler system such as yours?
Rich
you got it, that's me.
BTW - I made new measurements today, system is reading 13 amps for the heat pump and 2 amps for the air handler, measured with an RMS reading, dual slope integrating clamp meter. 243 Volts. BTUs after a long run is down to 28500. COP still measure out about 2.8 not including the air handler consumption. System COP then measures 2.4. I think these are pretty good, though I still haven't quantified the PF.
ECR has some air handlers that they sell, I think, but their installer prefers the Trane VS unit.
Ive checked out the pictures of installations for this brand of DX system,
Without any ARI info I can't see what is going on with this. I still don't know what size unit you have, I'm assuming a 3 ton.
Rich.
It's called a "4-ton" system, their -048 model. They do have a spec sheet that they emailed me that said their 4-ton system is rated 46100 BTU. But it doesn't give any more information than that. Of course, they don't give what the design temperature is or any detailed technical information. As you noted, they don't provide tech info anywhere, which bothers me. I should have known better but the installer I went with was "one of their best" according to ECR, so I trusted them. Heck, I was happy that the manufacturer would actually talk to me.
On the plus side, the guys who did the install were careful about handling the lines. The lines come prefab from the factory in a roll. They unroll them straight on the ground just before install into borehole.
Funny you should mention soldering the lines. I was around when they were installing them and asked them about this. They said that they braze all the lines because that gives a better mechanical connection that is less prone to damage with vibration etc.. Sounded good to me.
The ARI charts do list ECR as an officially qualified manufacturer and support their claim to being the most efficient system. Rated COP of something like 4.6 at ARI testing conditions.
Based on the numbers I'm getting and have measured, the system appears to be working as one would predict given the very low ground temperature. If I'm understanding the theory correctly, the system should follow the same curves as a normal heat pump, using the same compressor at a given air temperature, although the exact efficiency will depend on a variety of factors.
For example, looking at Carrier's conventional heat pump, the "low temperature" (17F) rating of their 4-ton unit runs around 31000BTU (depending on indoor unit) with a COP from 2.3-2.6 (Taken from their 38BY heat pump manual).
I'm not saying that this is 100% accurate for my situation, but the ballpark figures support the data pretty well given the rough measurements. Ultimately, you put a heat pump loops in ground that's well below freezing and you'll get very little heat out, and what you do get out won't be very efficient.
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