Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi everyone, back on BYA after a couple of years away working,

just wanted to sound you out about whether any of you have use heat pumps for aquaponics system heating and cooling.

we're building three systems, two using air to water source heat pumps for heat recovery and ventilation - heat is extracted during the day to cool the space and the heat is stored in the water of the system - lifting from 26-28oC then at night this heat is extracted and put through water tio air heat exchangers and fan units to balance the day night temperature fluctuations we get.

My company imports these heat pumps from the manufacturers in Germany, and we think their use is so logical... especially as heat pumps magnify inputs ie 1 kw of elecy put in produces about 3.2-3.5KW of heat, and if that 1 kw can be produced through PV or wind then its a free magnification from power into heating/cooling capacity.

the other system (the third of the three) we're powering from biomass (coppiced willow)

anyway if anyone wants any help of advice on renewable technologies i'm always happy to try and help.

cheers from a not so sunny scotland....

charlie

Please tell me about powering with biomass willows ... as in willow trees?

yup biomass from willow trees, or for that matter any trees that coppice and regenerate well.

coppice being the cutting down (to the stump) of trees every 2-3 years, results in fast growth of "poles" which can be used for building stuff (made chairs and fence pannels in the past) and going off on a tangent, the cool thing about building stuff with them is that the propergate and grow - ie build a chair, it roots and starts growing.

anyway yes biomass, take the coppice, chip it, dry it and burn it using woodgasification principle (about 90% efficient, as both the wood is burnt then the gases given off (woodgas) are burnt as well (two burn cycle) give low exhast gas temps and clean efficient burning.

The heat is then used to heat water, which is normally stored in accumulator tanks as in batch burning or direct feed automated systems that burn as required.

we have some examples on our website (www.thermotec.co.uk)

or another method is burning wood to power a steam turbine to produce electricity and heat as a byproduct (woodgas CHP - combined heat and power)

we also import a burner from Germany that can even burn livestock shit, predrying and burning.

so loads of wood burning options out there... feel free to ask more questions

best wishes
charlie

They used heatpumps on the farm where i worked with very well insulated mushroom tunnels.
As i recall they needed to use electric heat to suppliment them in the winter but the temperatures did need to be quite high.
The fans made a fair amount of noise when they kicked in, in a non commercial location the neighbours wouldn`t be impressed at 3am

yer agreed...
but heat pumps have moved on, we worked with Alpha Innotec in Germany to develop a system specifically for aquaponics, and whilst its got a fan its a german engineered one if you know what i mean....
i could listen to those things purr all day long.....

anyway interesting to hear about your experiences with them, when was theis and any idea whats COPs they were running at?

Hi Charlie
It was a good while ago (years) although it was fairly innovative at the time.
No doubts technology has leapt forward. No clue on the technical specs i`m afraid, but each unit as i recall was about the size of a domestic washing machine