I’m looking to replace a 2 ton 4 pipe chiller with a 2 ton open loop geothermal unit. Current set up A 2 tons 4 pipe chiller. A 41 tons hour (410 gallon) Ice Bank. Tripple 175 gallons insulated heat storage tanks. Dual 4 pipe air handlers. My current system works great until we have multiple 90*+ days with nighttime lows in the 80*’s. During the winter we do use some backup electric heating elements. I’m having issues finding any units in the 2 to 3 tons range that would fit my situation. I have a 1,600 sq’ newer tight house. Family of 4 with 2 working from home and 2 doing online school. We are off gird with a small hydro system (7,800 watt). We make ice or heat in thermal storage as dump loads. I have a gravity fed water system for irrigation that I filter that I could use for the open loop geothermal. The summer water temps stay under 65* and the winter water temps stay about 40*.
Any 2 ton w-w unit is a 4 pipe unit with a hot side and a cold side. You just don't have any loop connections for unbalanced loads. This is, in simple forms, how most ice arenas work.
I understand what your saying. I'm looking for something that will make ice and hot water at the same time in bulk, but will also send the waist heat or cold into the "loop" when needed to keep up efficiency. I'm starting to think I'm looking for something that is not made for the residential market. I know in comerical 4 pipe hvac systems they use a heat recovery unit between the hot and the cold side, but also use a chiller or boiler. They do make some 4 pipe systems like I have that will make ice and hot water at the same time, but not run the fan on the unit until there is a lack of storage on the hot or cold side. Most of the time these are 5 tons or more.
What you're asking is a pretty standard setup using plumbing on the loops (building and ground). The unbalanced load is matched by pumps/heat exchangers to maintain loop temperatures within a temp band. It is very standard in the commercial world as you mentioned, not so much in the residential as there is rarely demand for chilled and hot water at the same time. Use the plumbing, as you understand it that would require a chiller and a boiler connected to the 4 pipe. This is now the plumbing for the ground loop.
