Water chilling/heating

[blug]

Guys

I'm just an average tinkerer and looking for some input.

I have 2x300 litre water tanks and was thinking of rigging a heat pump (modified 8000BTU aircon unit) between the two. Heat exchanger in each. One tank for cold water and one for hot.

Regardless of the size of the pump, isulation issues etc, what would the theoretical achievable temperature difference be between the two tanks?

Thanks

[frank]

A difficult question to answer as you do not give a time span, or if the water flows from 1 tank to the other, or is on a recirculation basis. If you had a start and finish temperature, water moving from one point to the other, and a time span, then the equation would be simple.

What you are asking is - how much energy can a 2.34kW heat pump add to 2 cylinders of water?

But then you are saying (I think) that one will remain cold while the other becomes hot due to the energy input.

Can you refine your question?

[blug]

Hi Frank

Thanks for the speedy response.

The two tanks are not interconnected. For the purpose of this exersize consider them sealed.
I am not concerned about time either. What I am trying to establish is if I leave it running for long enough, what will the temperature difference be between the two tanks.
If both start at 30C and I am trying to get a 60C differential using 2.34kW, is it achievable?


It might sound a pointless question, but I have worked with peltiers (not on this scaleof course) and you are stuck with an envelope of 20-30C. If one tank reaches 20C and the other 50C, thats it, no more.

I have not worked with pumped gas heat exchanging yet and I was hoping one could achieve >60C differential.

Hope this makes more sense.

[NoNickName]

In a refrigeration cycle, depending on the actual refrigerant used, the max differential temperature between the heat sink and heat source is an input data. Theoretically, you could achieve a heat source temperature very close to freezing, and a heat sink up to 80°C.
The capacity of the heat pump just defines the time it takes to achieve your goal.
Basicly a 1kW heat pump or 50kW pump can achieve the same result, the latter of which in a 1/50th of the time.

[blug]

Thats the answer I was looking for. Many thanks