Talk:Ground-coupled heat exchanger

What is the incendence of radon gas induction in earth cooling tubes? rkms

Corrugated Tubes
I would like to challenge the following affirmation:

"he inner surface of the tube, including all joints must be smooth to aid in the flow and removal of condensate. Corrugated or ribbed tubes and rough interior joints must not be used."

Please read this article: http://www.earthairtubes.com/

"The problem with PVC is the pipe is rigid. That means, as air flows through them, the air forms boundary layers that move at different speeds inside the pipe. This is called laminar flow. The reason air flows in boundary layers is based on the fundamental law of nature called the conservation of energy. Air will always take the path of least resistance. Air flowing in the layer next to the pipe wall will experience more resistance, thus will flow more slowly. The layer of air that makes up the inner core of the pipe will flow faster. because it has less resistance. The inner layer of air has only air to rub up against, as opposed to the air near the wall of the pipe, which has the entire wall surface area of the pipe to rub up against, and constantly slows down.

Can guess the effect this will have on the out come of the air temperature and humidity entering the house through the air tubes?

The air flowing faster will overtake the slower moving air near the wall of the pipe.

There will be little or no mixing of air inside the pipe.

The end result is the air coming into the building will have little or no cooling or dehumidification after a few minutes."

Since I have little knowledge about the subject, I'll not edit the article directly. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.240.200.93 (talk) 13:52, 1 August 2013 (UTC)

Design
The article states:

Smaller diameter tubes require more energy to move the air and have less Earth contact surface area.

I don't think so. What I presume this referrs to is the surface to volume ration per unit length -- a higher surface to volume ratio is a positive attribute.

So, we compare the circumference of the tube:


 * 2*Pi*r

to the cross section area:


 * Pi*r^2

So, while smaller tubes do require more energy to move the air but they have MORE Earth contact surface area per cross section area. That is the reason to use smaller tubes.

Tyrerj (talk) 04:20, 11 May 2008 (UTC)

"plastic?" That is too generic a term. What type? I came here for information. Didn't find any.

Mydogtrouble (talk) 11:13, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Improper calculation when going from meters to feet
Under "Design", it says "...buried 1.5 to 3m (6 to 10 feet)". An Apple Widget of mine says that 1.5 meters is equal to 4.9212598 feet, which I round to 4 feet 11 inches- not 6 feet. Also, 3 meters is about 9.8425197, which is closer to 9 feet 10 inches, than 10 feet. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.234.53.235 (talk) 20:38, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Requesting citation
In the section "Effectiveness," is the statement "...investigators from places like Britain and Turkey have reported very encouraging COPs..." A citation is needed here, preferably to an academically published paper. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Elmadagdale (talk • contribs) 14:25, 7 August 2010 (UTC)