Amici Water Systems, Philippines Your One Source in Water Systems

Amici (IPA: /a.ˈmi.tʃi/)  is Italian for friends.  It is pronounced as "amichi", not "amisi".  See http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/amici.

"Aiho" is our branch's name in Angeles City, Pampanga.  "Aiho" is a romanization of "Likes good" in Fookien Chinese.  You can pronounce it as the dwarves in Snow White and the Seven Dwarves would pronounce it, but without the leading "h".

The "Aircon Heater" system produces hot water by transferring condenser heat to water.  In establishments running air conditioning systems during operational hours, hot water can therefore be generated for "free", as a byproduct of air conditioner operation.

The heat pump water heating system transfers heat from the air to water, and releases cooler air.

In theory, both air conditioner and heat pump can be used together to realize most of the same savings as the "Aircon Heater" without its disadvantages.  By ducting the cool air released by the heat pump to the air conditioned rooms, the ambient temperatures of those rooms are lowered, thus lessening the load of the air conditioner.  As energy is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed or transferred, the air conditioner operational cost reduction is approximately proportional to the hot water production of the heat pump.  Unfortunately, this system will require higher initial investment cost.

Heat pumps and Air Conditioners use the same principle of transferring heat from one medium or area to another.  Heat Pump uses reverse refrigeration, takes in ambient heat from the surrounding air and transfers that to water.  The air conditioner transfers heat from a room to the outside.

The Air Conditioner-Heater system is a condenser refrigerant-to-water heat exchanger heating system that transfers heat energy released by the air conditioner to water, instead of to an area outside of the air conditioned room.  It is akin to a heat pump system, only the source of heat transferred to water is the condenser heat from the air conditioner.

In a tropical country like the Philippines, most commercial establishments, hotels and buildings provide round-the-clock air conditioning system.  Since the air conditioning system is already present, the "Aircon Heater" system promises to use air conditioner generated condenser heat to provide free hot water. 

As most things free (and not free), this system has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:

• Hot water can be provided for "free" -- as part of air conditioning expense

Disadvantages:

• Round-the-clock hot water provision cannot be guaranteed because hot water production is dependent on air conditioner operation.  When the air conditioner operates less (as during cold and rainy weather when hot water demand is at peak), less or inadequate hot water is available
• For year round stable hot water supply, backup heating system is required.  This maybe in the form of additional heat pumps or electric or gas-fired storage heaters
• There is the risk over the long run that if the heat exchanger leaks, water from the system will enter the refrigerant line, destroying the compressor of the condenser unit
• Original air conditioner warranty is usually void when the air conditioner is modified into an aircon heater

Tank-type storage water heaters suffer from standby heat loss.  This is mitigated by very good insulation.  Storage water heaters are mostly used in  centralized water heating systems which can also suffer heat loss from improperly insulated pipes, especially when fixtures are distant from the heaters. 

Tankless or instantaneous water heaters use electricity or LPG when hot water is demanded.  Thus, instant water heaters do not have heat loss from storage of hot water.  In the general case, instantaneous water heaters are potentially more energy saving than storage water heaters.  Savings can be as high as 10 - 15% compared to a tank-type water heater.  It really depends on design and usage.  For a single person household, tank-based water heaters will suffer more from standby heat loss; Tankless heaters are recommended.  For a family household use, standby heat loss of tank-type water heaters is minimal.

If hot water volume required is however very high, instant water heaters will need higher wattage to provide the same amount of hot water as storage water heaters.  In areas where cost of electricity is dependent on peak wattage and time, instant water heaters can thus suffer from high wattage penalties.

The quality of hot water differs dramatically between that of storage water heaters and instant water heaters.  Because storage water heaters have hot water ready, storage water heaters can provide hot water at uniform temperatures (until stored hot water runs out).  The water temperature out of instant water heaters, however, is flow dependent.  At any given heater setting, higher volume (stronger flow) of water will be shades cooler than a weaker flow of water.  When showering under an instant shower or multipoint water heaters, you may notice that the water temperature fluctuates.  This makes it harder for you to get the desired temperature and flow for your shower.

For high class lifestyle, similar to that provided by four or five star hotels, storage water heaters are necessary to provide quality hot water.

No, we don't offer outdoor water-proof electric water heaters.  Due to U.S.A. regulations on the danger of high-wattage appliances in outdoor locations, A.O. Smith does not manufacture outdoor electric water heaters.

Gas-fired water heaters are no more dangerous than your LPG stove right in your kitchen.  Using gas to heat water is nothing new.  Most commercial systems, hotels and motels, the food courts in the malls, canteens in your office building, restaurants using dish washers, and gyms use LPG storage water heaters.  The Operating cost of an LPG water heater is roughly half of an equivalent electric water heater.  That's why it is popular for commercial use requiring centralized water heating systems.

Solar energy is free.  However, it is not available 24 hours a day.  Thus, a solar water heating system should normally require a backup heating system.  The most common backup used in the market are electric storage water heaters.

Solar energy can be maximized for water heating use by providing enough collector panels and large enough hot water storage.  With limited roof or surface area dedicated to solar panels, this solution is not usually practical. 

Ultimately, the sizing and behavior of a solar water heating system is dependent on hot water usage.  Households that use a sizeable fraction of their stored hot water at night can expect their backup system  to run half of the time.

Conservatively, one can save half of their heating operating costs using solar water heating.  Thus, investing on a good backup system is also advisable.

In terms of solar energy collected per collector area, evacuated tubes have higher efficiency.  Nevertheless, per solar panel area, flat panels have larger collector area, and will perform better in the Philippine climate.

Evacuated tubes are designed to collect solar energy at higher efficiencies within a wider range of angles with regards to the sun's position.  Evacuated tubes can reach higher temperature than flat panels.  They are best suited in climates when total solarization per day is not high.

Flat panels can collect the most energy when they are perpendicular to the sun's rays.  Thus, flat panel performance is affected more by the angle with respect to the sun.

Physically, however, per panel area, flat collector area will be larger than evacuated tube collector area.  In effect, the lower efficiency of the flat collector is balanced with its larger collector area.

Heat Pumps have distinct advantages over solar water heaters:

• Heat pumps are easier to install, and they require so much less installation space than solar panels
• Heat pumps will work at night, not requiring backup heating systems
• Heat pumps can deliver more hot water over the day
• Heat pumps work well in all weather conditions
• In a commercial installation of a heat pump water heater, the air duct can be connected to the output of the air conditioning system to give improved performance
• Heat pumps are able to deliver free cooled air simultaneously to satisfy additional cooling system requirements

Membrane-type or diaphragm pressure tanks separate air from water with a membrane.  These tanks either come with pressurized air cells or a bladder for water.  Volume capacity for these tanks are measured solely for water volume. For a specified volume requirement, a physically smaller diaphram tank will work at the same capacity as a larger conventional pressure tank.

Sizing of pumps and filters for swimming pools is dependent on the size of the swimming pool, i.e. volume of water, and the expected usage of the swimming pool.

Calculating the volume of a box-shaped swimming pool is easiest.  The volume of the pool will be length x width x depth.  For a pool with a slanted slope, we use the average of the lowest and highest depth of the pool.  For example, given a pool 10 feet wide and 20 feet long, with its shallowest depth at 3 feet and a maximum depth of 5 ft, the volume in cubic feet is 10 x 20 x ((3 + 5) / 2) = 800 ft³.  1 ft³ = 7.48 US gallons, so 800 ft³ is around 5984 gallons.

Expected usage affects the sizing of pool equipment because it dictates the duration by which the whole pool water volume should be filtered.  This is called the turnover cycle.  For residential use, 8 hours turnover cycle is normally used.  For commercial use, i.e. resorts and hotels, 6 hours turnover cycle is used.

The swimming pool pump must be able to circulate the pool water volume within the turnover time.  Pool water will pass through the filter once per turnover cycle.  Thus both the pump and filter must be able to handle a flow rate of (water volume / turnover cycle).

For our previous example, volume = 5984 gallons.  For residential use, required flow rate = 5984 gallons / 8 hours = 748 gph or 12.47 gpm.  For commercial use, required flow rate = 5984 gallons / 6 hours = 997.33 gph or 16.62 gpm.

Pool pumps and filters are given gpm ratings.  A properly sized pump will have a gpm nearest the required flow rate.  A properly sized filter will be the smallest filter that equals or exceeds the pump's actual flow rate.