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I'm adding photovoltaic thermal panels and a hot water storage tank to a model. The PVT panels heat the water in the heat storage tank, and the heat storage tank supplies hot water to the water heaters.

I have a concern about where cold water from the water main is being put into the plant loops though. I want only the hot water storage tank connected directly to the water main and none of the water heaters connected directly to the water main. This would force the water heaters to replenish water from the hot water storage tank, which itself is connected to the water main. Otherwise, the heat in the hot water storage tank may not be used completely if a water heater replenishes water directly from the cold water main.

The problem is the water main seems to be implicitly connected to the plantloops in energyplus. How can I specify where the water main physically connects? Or is energyplus smart enough that I don't have to worry about this and the water heaters will always replenish from the hot water storage tank, even though the water heaters can replenish from the water main?


Here is the link to the model I made. The base was DOE_StripMall and I added in all the stuff (I think) I needed for the PVT.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/171QpdKaoZ3kVjNj21p0PFR0CSC2F_o2f/view?usp=sharing

I'm adding photovoltaic thermal panels and a hot water storage tank to a model. The PVT panels heat the water in the heat storage tank, and the heat storage tank supplies hot water to the water heaters.

I have a concern about where cold water from the water main is being put into the plant loops though. I want only the hot water storage tank connected directly to the water main and none of the water heaters connected directly to the water main. This would force the water heaters to replenish water from the hot water storage tank, which itself is connected to the water main. Otherwise, the heat in the hot water storage tank may not be used completely if a water heater replenishes water directly from the cold water main.

The problem is the water main seems to be implicitly connected to the plantloops in energyplus. How can I specify where the water main physically connects? Or is energyplus smart enough that I don't have to worry about this and the water heaters will always replenish from the hot water storage tank, even though the water heaters can replenish from the water main?


Here is the link to the model I made. The base was DOE_StripMall and I added in all the stuff (I think) I needed for the PVT.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/171QpdKaoZ3kVjNj21p0PFR0CSC2F_o2f/view?usp=sharing

I'm adding photovoltaic thermal panels and a hot water storage tank to a model. The PVT panels heat the water in the heat storage tank, and the heat storage tank supplies hot water to the water heaters.

I have a concern about where cold water from the water main is being put into the plant loops though. I want only the hot water storage tank connected directly to the water main and none of the water heaters connected directly to the water main. This would force the water heaters to replenish water from the hot water storage tank, which itself is connected to the water main. Otherwise, the heat in the hot water storage tank may not be used completely if a water heater replenishes water directly from the cold water main.

The problem is the water main seems to be implicitly connected to the plantloops in energyplus. How can I specify where the water main physically connects? Or is energyplus smart enough that I don't have to worry about this and the water heaters will always replenish from the hot water storage tank, even though the water heaters can replenish from the water main?


Here is the link to the model I made. The base was DOE_StripMall and I added in all the stuff (I think) I needed for the PVT.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/171QpdKaoZ3kVjNj21p0PFR0CSC2F_o2f/view?usp=sharinghttps://drive.google.com/file/d/171QpdKaoZ3kVjNj21p0PFR0CSC2F_o2f/view?usp=sharing

Edit:
Here is a sketch of what I currently have. (There are no heat exchangers. All water is mixed together.) As you can see, there are an awful lot of connections to main because each plantloop is implicitly connected. I am concerned that the plantloops connecting WaterHeaters to their uses are replenishing water directly from main rather than replenishing from the PVT heat storage tank.

Here is a simplified picture of what I would like to do. How to model this setup in energyplus where each plantloop is implicitly connected to main is my difficulty.


This is not a concern in ShopWithSimplePVT.idf because there is only one WaterHeater. (Again, this is a simplified picture.)

I'm adding photovoltaic thermal panels and a hot water storage tank to a model. The PVT panels heat the water in the heat storage tank, and the heat storage tank supplies hot water to the water heaters.

I have a concern about where cold water from the water main is being put into the plant loops though. I want only the hot water storage tank connected directly to the water main and none of the water heaters connected directly to the water main. This would force the water heaters to replenish water from the hot water storage tank, which itself is connected to the water main. Otherwise, the heat in the hot water storage tank may not be used completely if a water heater replenishes water directly from the cold water main.

The problem is the water main seems to be implicitly connected to the plantloops in energyplus. How can I specify model where the water main physically connects? Or is energyplus smart enough that I don't have to worry about this and the water heaters will always replenish from the hot water storage tank, even though the water heaters can replenish from the water main?


Here is the link to the model I made. The base was DOE_StripMall and I added in all the stuff (I think) I needed for the PVT.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/171QpdKaoZ3kVjNj21p0PFR0CSC2F_o2f/view?usp=sharing

Edit:
Here is a sketch of what I currently have. (There are no heat exchangers. All water is mixed together.) As you can see, there are an awful lot of connections to main because each plantloop is implicitly connected. I am concerned that the plantloops connecting WaterHeaters to their uses are replenishing water directly from main rather than replenishing from the PVT heat storage tank.

Here is a simplified picture of what I would like to do. How to model this setup in energyplus where each plantloop is implicitly connected to main is my difficulty.


This is not a concern in ShopWithSimplePVT.idf because there is only one WaterHeater. (Again, this is a simplified picture.)

I'm adding photovoltaic thermal panels and a hot water storage tank to a model. The PVT panels heat the water in the heat storage tank, and the heat storage tank supplies hot water to the water heaters.

I have a concern about where cold water from the water main is being put into the plant loops though. I want only the hot water storage tank connected directly to the water main and none of the water heaters connected directly to the water main. This would force the water heaters to replenish water from the hot water storage tank, which itself is connected to the water main. Otherwise, the heat in the hot water storage tank may not be used completely if a water heater replenishes water directly from the cold water main.

The problem is the water main seems to be implicitly connected to the plantloops in energyplus. How can I model where the water main physically connects? Or is energyplus smart enough that I don't have to worry about this and the water heaters will always replenish from the hot water storage tank, even though the water heaters can replenish from the water main?


Here is the link to the model I made. The base was DOE_StripMall and I added in all the stuff (I think) I needed for the PVT.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/171QpdKaoZ3kVjNj21p0PFR0CSC2F_o2f/view?usp=sharing

Edit:
Here is a sketch of what I currently have. (There are no heat exchangers. All water is mixed together.) As you can see, there are an awful lot of connections to main because each plantloop is implicitly connected. I am concerned that the plantloops connecting WaterHeaters to their uses are replenishing water directly from main rather than replenishing from the PVT heat storage tank.

Here is a simplified picture of what I would like to do. How to model this setup in energyplus where each plantloop is implicitly connected to main is my difficulty.


This is not a concern in ShopWithSimplePVT.idf because there is only one WaterHeater. (Again, this is a simplified picture.)