Field Evaluation of Pre-Commercial Residential Gas Heat Pump Water Heaters Paul Glanville ACEEE Hot Water Forum Monday, February 22 nd, 2016 Portland, OR
Gas Heat Pump Water Heater Why? Motivation: Despite low natural gas prices, GHPWH has potential to leapfrog > Energy/Operating Cost Savings, Fewer Infrastructure Needs, Recent Regulatory Drivers Baseline: ~90% of Gas WHs sold. At risk with advancing efficiency, combustion safety requirements Mid-Effiency: UEF approx. 0.67 0.72, 50-100% greater equipment costs, simple paybacks beyond life of product. Condensing Storage: UEF approx. 0.74 0.82, ~ 20% therm savings with 4-5X equipment cost and retrofit installation costs of $1000 or more. Tankless and Hybrids: UEF approx. 0.82 0.95, ~ 33% therm savings with 2-3X equipment cost and similar infrastructure req s as condensing storage. Gas Heat Pump: UEF approx. 1.3, > 50% therm savings with comparable installed cost to tankless. Technology Leapfrog through Direct Retrofit 2
Gas Heat Pump Water Heater What? GHPWH System Specifications: Direct-fired NH3-H2O singleeffect absorption cycle integrated with storage tank and heat recovery. Intended as fully retrofittable with most common gas storage water heating, without infrastructure upgrade. GHPWH Units/Notes Technology Developer Stone Mountain Technologies OEM support Heat Pump Output 10,000 Btu/hr Firing Rate 6,300 Btu/hr Efficiency 1.3 Energy Factor Projected Tank Size 75 Gallons Backup Heating Experimenting with backup currently Emissions (projected) 10 ng NO x /J Based upon GTI laboratory testing Commercial Introduction 2017 Projected Installation Sealed system has NH3 Indoors or semi conditioned charge < 25% allowed by space (garage) ASHRAE Standard 15 Venting ½ 1 PVC Gas Piping ½ Estimated Consumer Cost <$1,800 Information and graphic courtesy of Stone Mountain Technologies, Inc. 3
Gas Heat Pump Water Heater How? How it works - Cooling effect at evaporator is 1/3-1/2 that of electric HPWHs. - Uses single-effect absorption cycle, more complex cycles were considered by manufacturer but were not cost-effective. - Features discussed likely to apply to GHPWH product category. 4
Gas Heat Pump Water Heater Where? Pac. NW Demonstration (WA/OR/ID) Four GHPWHs are operating in major NW cities, focusing on seasonal performance, heating system interaction, end user satisfaction, and contractor education. Initial Controlled Demonstration (TN) Two GHPWHs installed near manufacturer, at homes of employee and employee of local utility. Focus on refining system controls and assessing reliability. Map reference: Baechler, M. et al. Guide to Determining Climate Regions by County, PNNL-17211, 2010. 5
Gas Heat Pump Water Heater Where? Four 3 rd Gen. installations focus of this study > Three of four installed in semi-conditioned garages, Seattle-area unit installed in conditioned basement. > Units installed in parallel to baseline gas water heaters to switch over during periods of prototype servicing. > Monitoring period over 9 months, beginning in January 2015. Boise, ID Spokane, WA Portland, OR Seattle, WA 6
Pilot Project Overview - Sites Baseline Site Characteristics and Summary: Compared to typical Pac. NW homes, GHPWH sites have higher than average occupancy (> 2.5) and hot water usage. Average Daily Draw Volume (Gal.) 90.0 80.0 70.0 60.0 50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 GHPWH Study EHPWH Validation Study 2 3 4 5 6 No. of Occupants Existing WH Seattle Spokane Portland Boise Tank Size (Gal.) 40 34 50 40 Firing Rate (Btu/hr) 36,000 100,000 40,000 40,000 Age 14+ Years 18 Years 0 years 13 years Rated / Avg. Delivered EF/TE Average Inlet T ( F) Average Outlet T ( F) 0.59 / 0.56 96% / 0.91 0.62 / 0.47 0.59 / 0.45 53.3 61.2 54.8 58.7 123.8 122.8 115.2 138.0 EHPWH Validation: Heat Pump Water Heater Model Validation Study, Prepared by Ecotope for NEEA, Report #E15-306 (2015) 7
Pilot Project Overview - Measurements Measurement Scheme (Continuous) Monitoring Phase Baseline & GHPWH GHPWH Only Continuous Measurement Indoor T &RH NG Flow Water Flow Power Draw (total) Water inlet/outlet temperatures Gas valve on/off Storage tank thermostat temperature HP Temperatures Evap in/out Hyd. Loop Rtn/Sup. Desorber shell Flue gas exiting temperature 8
Pilot Project Overview Metrics Efficiency Metrics > Heat Pump COP Efficiency of absorption heat pump based only on heat from combustion. > System COP Overall efficiency of GHPWH, based on gas/electricity inputs (incl. backup heating). > Delivered Energy Factor Transient output/input efficiency metric (akin to rating UEF), includes tank heat loss and mixing effects. COP HP COP SYS DEF 60 /,,, ; 9
GHPWH Performance and Reliability Heat Pump Performance > COP HP at lab test targets (1.4-1.8), near theoretical limits. > Generally, low COPs from EEV > With reliable heat recovery, steady power consumption (~150W), and minimal backup heating COP SYS /COP HP has correlation coeff. of 0.83. > For all cycles: > 75% COP HP > 1.4 > 45% COP HP > 1.6 > 68% COP SYS > 1.3 > 42% COP SYS > 1.4 Percentage of Cycles 45% 40% 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Portland Boise Seattle Spokane Heat Pump COP Bins 10
GHPWH Performance and Reliability COP less affected by ambient > Known from prior lab testing, GHPWH efficiency is affected more by storage tank temperature than ambient air. > Over one cycle, COP and heat pump output drop as tank warms > Over range of ambient air temperatures observed, COP nearly flat for GHPWHs Evaporator cooling effect is small > Function of cycle COP, higher efficiency greater cooling effect (same as EHPWHs). > Observed range from 2,500-4,000 Btu/hr Heat Pump COP 2 1.9 1.8 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.4 1.3 Portland GHPWH Recovery 2/2 COP Output 1.2 70 80 90 100 110 120 Hydronic Return Temperature (F) 15000 13500 12000 10500 9000 7500 Heat Pump Output (Btu/hr) 11
GHPWH Performance and Reliability Reliability: Electronic Expansion Valve > With reliable EEV performance, GHPWH can take advantage of colder tank temperatures during beginning of on-cycle, increasing efficiency/output capacity. > Component affected all sites, off-design operation, required servicing Seattle EEV Working Well Seattle EEV Not Working Well 80 2 80 2 75 1.8 75 1.8 Temperature (F) 70 65 60 1.6 1.4 1.2 COP Temperature (F) 70 65 60 1.6 1.4 1.2 COP 55 Ambient DB F Evap In F Evap Out F COP 50 13:26 13:55 14:24 14:52 15:21 15:50 1 0.8 55 Ambient DB F Evap In F Evap Out F COP 50 0.8 17:16 17:45 18:14 18:43 19:12 19:40 20:09 20:38 12 1
GHPWH Predicted Savings Therm Savings of 50% or more > Charting daily input/output creates linear input/output relationship, for gas input only. > In comparison to baseline, all sites showed greater than 50% savings except for Spokane with Polaris. > Sites had large range of daily hot water usage, average from 41 96 gal/day. Output Low Usage (Seattle) High Usage (Portland) Daily DHW Draw (gal) 41 96 Days 120 100 80 60 40 Baseline 64 gal/day 0.59 0.48 84 gal/day 0.60 0.50 20 GHPWH 64 gal/day 1.21 1.15 84 gal/day 1.25 1.18 0 Daily Hot Water Draw (Gallons) 13
GHPWH Predicted Savings Delivered Efficiency by Site: Solid = GHPWH, Dashed = Baseline 2.0 1.5 Delivered Efficiency 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 100000 Output (Btu/day) Portland Seattle Spokane Spokane wo Feb. Boise 14
GHPWH Predicted Savings 10 Year Cost of Ownership Projected GHPWH Economics For DOE High Usage category, GHPWHs have projected 1.2 < DEF < 1.3, > 50% savings versus baseline (except Spokane), can be competitive for moderate/high usage homes despite low NG prices. With new min. eff. guidelines GHPWH leapfrogs condensing storage. $8,000.00 $7,000.00 $6,000.00 $5,000.00 $4,000.00 $3,000.00 $2,000.00 GHPWH Conditioned GHPWH Semi/Unconditioned Baseline GWH High DEF Baseline GWH Low DEF 25 50 75 100 125 150 Average Hot Water Draw (Gal/Day) GHPWH Savings for 10 Year Cost of Ownership $2,000.00 $1,500.00 $1,000.00 $500.00 $ $(500.00) $(1,000.00) Storage Non condensing Storage Condensing Tankless Non condensing Tankless Condensing 25 50 75 100 125 150 Average Hot Water Draw (Gal/Day) Utility Costs: Assumes OR averages of 11.72 /kwh, $1.11/therm with 1.9% and 1.2% utility escalation rates per EIA 2015 Annual Energy Outlook through 2027. Conventional Gas Water Heater Data from: Kosar, D. et al. Residential Water Heating Program - Facilitating the Market Transformation to Higher Efficiency Gas-Fired Water Heating - Final Project Report. CEC Contract CEC-500-2013-060. (2013) Link: http://www.energy.ca.gov/publications/displayonereport.php?pubnum=cec-500-2013-060 15
End User/Contractor Feedback Feedback on Hot Water Capacity > For three sites, each with 4+ occupants, hosts noted periods of low capacity. Upon inspection, high loading events did result T outlet < 105 F. Case below shows high loading managed with cycling and backup heat. Outlet Temperature (F) and Cumulative Gallons 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 Draw Volume (Gal) Outlet T (F) Mid Tank (F) On Time Backup Morning draws are kept above 110 F with backup heating 0 0 12:00 AM 4:00 AM 8:00 AM Time 12:00 of PM Day 4:00 PM 8:00 PM 12:00 AM 16 2 1 GHPWH Runtime
End User/Contractor Feedback Feedback on Hot Water Capacity > Same site, shows impact of cycle timing, tank heat loss, and controls for backup heating. Opportunities for improvement in addition to right-sizing storage. Outlet Temperature (F) and Cumulative Gallons 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 Draw Volume (Gal) Outlet T (F) Mid Tank (F) On Time Timing and magnitude of draws partially drain tank during morning period, drawing over 50 gallons in a short period of time. Backup 2 1 GHPWH Runtime 0 0 12:00:00 AM 2:24:00 AM 4:48:00 AM 7:12:00 AM 9:36:00 AM 12:00:00 PM Time of Day 2:24:00 PM 4:48:00 PM 7:12:00 PM 9:36:00 PM 12:00:00 AM 17
End User/Contractor Feedback End user nuisances minimal > No complaints drafts or excessive cooling. Non-garage installation noted noise levels. Units noise observed to be near Tier I. Photos of Boise site highlight: > Gas/Water connections > ¾ PVC flue pipe > Condensate lines Seattle Spokane Portland Boise Noise, db (Average per NEEA Spec.) 67.5 64.8 66.4 64.6 Installations straightforward, though unit size noted as challenge > Venting through external wall using new penetration (B, P, Se) or existing vent (Sp). > Condensate drained to accessible drain (B) or with other condensing equipment (P, Se, Sp). Gas line access OK. 18
Questions & Answers @gastechnology http://www.stonemountaintechnologies.com/ 19