Sanitary operator of a hot water heat pump
AssigneeCarrier Corporation
InventorsBryan A. Eisenhower, Tobias Sienel, Nicolas Pondico-Cassou
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of sanitizing pipes, etc. in a hot water supply system includes the steps of normally heating water by driving water from a water storage tank, into a heat exchanger. Typically, a water pump is stopped once the water storage tank receives a particular percentage of hot water. However, when a sanitation mode is desired, the pump is not stopped, such that the water tank becomes all, or almost all, hot water. The hot water is then delivered to the pump, and from the pump to the heat exchanger. This hot water is thus operable to sanitize pipes and the pump.
Claims13
A method of operating a hot water supply system comprising the steps of:
- (1) providing a hot water supply system including a water storage tank, and a pump for delivering water from said water storage tank to a heat exchanger;
- (2) operating said pump under normal conditions to draw a cool water from said water storage tank, and pass it through pipes communicating said water storage tank to said pump and to said heat exchanger, and monitoring an amount of cool water in said water storage tank relative to an amount of hotter water, and normally stopping operation of said pump passing cool water to said heat exchanger when the amount of hotter water relative to cool water reaches a predetermined amount;
- and
- (3) operating said system in a sanitation mode at which hotter temperature water is brought through said pipes and said pump, and in said sanitation mode, said pump not stopping operation when the amount of hotter water relative to cool water exceeds the predetermined amount, but continuing to pass water from said water storage tank through said heat exchanger such that a higher temperature water is brought through said pipes and said pump.
A hot water supply system comprising:
- a water storage tank;
- a pump for delivering water from said water storage tank to a heat exchanger;
- at least one pipe for connecting said water storage tank to said heat exchanger;
- a control for operating the system in a sanitation mode at which hotter temperature water is brought through said pipes and said pump;
- and said control monitoring an amount of cool water in said water storage tank relative to an amount of hotter water, and said control normally stopping operation of said pump passing cool water to said heat exchanger when the amount of hotter water relative to cool water reaches a predetermined amount;
- and
- in said sanitation mode, said control not stopping operation even when the amount of hotter water relative to cool water exceeds the predetermined amount, but continuing to pass water from said water storage tank through said heat exchanger such that a higher temperature water is brought through said pipes and said pump.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.