Geothermal Heating and Air Conditioning Systems
Heating and air conditioning systems have the one task to keep us warm in winter and cool in summer.
For winter heating, this has been accomplished since ages by burning fossil and other fuels such as wood, coal, gas and electricty to heat our houses. For summer cooling, electricity powered air conditioners are used to pump heat from the insite to the outsite, the heat is disposed of in the surroounding air.
Unter pressure by environmental and economical concerns, smarter solutions were developed using the ground or earth as provider for thermal energy, whether for heating and for cooling. Ground source or geothermal heating and cooling is the answer. The following diagrams display the approach:
Benefits of Geothermal Heating and Cooling
:
- Thermal energy is available in abbandance and is free! Consequently, only the energy to move the energy from or to the energy source Earth needs to be purchased.
- The temperature level of the earth is more favorable than the temperature of the surrounding air, which is hotter in summer, when we cool and colder in winter when needed for heating. The earth has a constant temperatur of about 40 - 80 degree Fahrenheit depending on location and depth below the surface .
- By not burning fossil fuels, geothermal systems contibute positively to reduce environmental pollution.
- Check out our Geothermal Investment/Cost Savings page for that important aspect!
Geothermal Systems:
Geothermal system for heating and air conditioning are composed of three distinct components:
- Inhouse air distribution, typically forced air systems with air handler and duct work as we know them from traditional heating and air conditioning systems.
- The geothermal heat pump, reversable for heating and cooling. These units are offered as 'All-In-One' units, or as 'Split' units known from traditional heating and air systems with outsite compressor unit and inside evaporator coil unit
- The geothermal
or ground loop to collect or dispose of heat.
Contact our Geo Experts
for a solution of your geothermal heating and air conditioning project!
Ground Loop Configurations:
To collect or dispose of heat in the surrounding ground, water is used as means to transport the heat. The water is pumped through PVC piping what is burried in the ground depending on the local sitiuation:
The vertical loop is realized with multiple trenches of burried PVC pipe or a wide trence where the same length of pipe is laid out as a slinky
The vertical loop is used where the surrounding geography does not allow for long trenches to ho;d the PVC pipes. Vertical loops are placed in drilled holes similar to well drilling.
The pont loop uses the thermal properties of a pond to collect or dispose of heat. Here the piping is place to the bottom of a pond.
The open loop design utilizes ground water directly as transport media for heat. Fresh ground water is pumped to the geo heat pump and disposed of into the ground.