Geothermal Heating and Air Conditioning?

[jgln]

Water from a well? a ground source heatpump might work if you have water around the right temp. 64 degrees is what the well temp is at my parents place, they use the GSHP, and the waste water is driven through a sprinkler system to return it to the soil.

I just noticed where you live but not sure where your parents are but up here in winter the sprinkler system would not work and if the ground remains frozen all that water would create a pond (frozen?), my guess anyway.

 

[Barc]

I just heard about that option this morning. The problem this guy saw with it was the water used could not permeate back into the ground fast enough and created swamp conditions in the yard. My well is really just a 6" or so tube so I bet they would still need to drill. To me that kind of seems like a waste of water in the aquifer. I wonder how long before environmentalists complain geo thermal is heating or cooling the earth too much and it must be stopped.

A lot of these types of systems dump the water back into the well, as in 2 holes, a supply and a return. But, I have heard that this isn't allowed in certain areas, due to contamination concerns, so the water must be dumped on the ground. Depending on your water use and ground conditions, you can easily create a swamp...

And so far as environmentalists area concerned, some are for it since they see it as helping conserve energy to some extent and others are against it due to localized ground heating. As in everything, you're always going to have some people for it and some against it.

 

[mmb]

Open loop systems use water off your well head and dump it to a drainage of some kind. Didn't go with that because I didn't want run off water in the ditch 365 days a year.

As far as I remember, the open loop system would have been about 7k cheaper that the closed loop system we went with. I was told the well head injection system wasn't available in this area because of drainage issues. *shrug*

 

[jgln]

I just heard about that option this morning. The problem this guy saw with it was the water used could not permeate back into the ground fast enough and created swamp conditions in the yard. My well is really just a 6" or so tube so I bet they would still need to drill. To me that kind of seems like a waste of water in the aquifer. I wonder how long before environmentalists complain geo thermal is heating or cooling the earth too much and it must be stopped.

I called a guy who used to work for this company before he quit recently. Said dispatcher was trying to tell him how to do his job even though she was not an HVAC tech ( I thought maybe for doing side jobs?). I did not call him originally because I thought he still worked for them and would be working. He has helped me out for free several times. He came over and actually took the motor apart and showed me the seized motor. No charge. Today he is going to try and track down just the motor instead of the whole assembly and call me back.

He also told me he believed the warranty was only 5 years as opposed to the 10 year on the gas heater was the fact the pump is pretty much working all the time so they get more wear on them in much less time. Makes sense.

 

[mmb]

There are also stipulations based on how much pressure and gph your pump can deliver. I don't remember what they were off the top of my head.

 

[shmoo]

i actually work for a company and we install and service geothermal heat pumps. basically if your building a new house, youd be stupid not to put one in just because its way easier and nothings in the way. and you dont have to worry about the yard getting torn up by the drillers or excavators. no one we installed systems for has ever complained about their electric bill since switching over. one house i know for sure is about 4000 square feet and their electric bill is 200 a month, they have 2 geothermal systems in their house. also depending on which systems you go with you can choose the option of running radiant floor heat off the system as well. most systems offer desuperheater options on them which is basically recirculating and making hot water for your house, so you will also save there, and trust me, these things do produce probably 20-30 percent of the hot water! oh and the warrantys, if you go with some of the better companies such as water furnace or climatemaster, you will get a 10 year parts and labor warranty on the units. which is way better than a typical hvac system which is usually only 5 year parts and 1 year labor. yes the best way would be to do a closed system say in a pond but you will need a fairly decent sized pond if your house is larger. but typically if your doing a vertical closed loop system its 150-200 feet per ton. ussually well drilling costs will be somewhere in the 15-20 bucks a foot depending on the driller. but until 2016 the government is offering a 30% tax rebate on installation of geothermal systems, that includes the well drilling as well.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I agree to the above post by shmoo

This is what I have in my home. It all stainless steel too! :rockin:


http://www.hydronmodule.com/h-two-stage

 

[jgln]

I found a guy who does HVAC on his own and says he located a new motor and will replace (labor and parts) for $200, $300 less than the company. He also have me an option for a new heater for $2k (after tax credit), $1k less than the company. He does not do geothermal installations though but does know how to work on them.

I am still undecided about going geothermal so I am going to let him fix my current heater for $200.

 

[mmb]

that looks a lot like my waterfurnace, except that the fluid ports are on the opposite side from the air intake and mine is blue.

 

[michael20]

Even in regions without large high temperature geothermal resources, a geothermal heat pump can still provide space heating and air conditioning.


Heating And Air