Posted on 09/20/2006 11:38:26 AM PDT by JZelle
Anyone who ever tried to dig a hole in January knows how hard the cold earth can be. However, underneath that top layer of soil, the earth is a warmer, more constant temperature no matter what the calendar says. Home builders are starting to take advantage of that by introducing geothermal heat pumps into homes new and old. The concept is simple and dates to the 1800s, but not until the 1940s did any buildings start delivering on its promise.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
It can cost a fortune to trench or tunnel for these tubes. But they can pay off in extreme climates.
I remember reading about these things back in the 80's. The problem with these things is twofold. The heat exchange arrays tend to develop leaks that are hard to find and fix, and dirt is a lousy heat conductor which means that you need a large array to get the heat out (increasing the likelihood of leaks)
I heard about this. Useful year-round, but liquifaction could be a massive problem.
People have been doing this for a long time. The designs are well-developed already.
Even the hippies did this, way back in the 1970s. I lived in a house that had a huge underground rock pit that was used as heat storage in the winter and cooling in the summer. It worked pretty well, overall, but was very primitive.
Modern heat pump technology does a much better job utilizing this.
Better yet, buy a cave.
"Modern heat pump technology does a much better job utilizing this."
Most of the newer systems use ground water for extracting both heat and cooling. It needs well water to work.
Figure about 10-15K for the system, if you already have a well.
There's a significant difference between "well water" and "ground water". What the heat pumps need is "ground water".
Last I knew most wells use ground water.
Around these parts, they just use wells. pump the water out, run it through the heat exchanger, pump it back. There is no leaky "Array".
OK unless you don't have a well :-)
and it's nothing "new' either. They've been around for a long time.
Heat exchangers, more accurately called "heat pumps" are expensive, and so is the electricity that runs them.
BTTT
The only systems I've ever seen, and I've seen alot, use a well.
You may be thinking of some solar designs that used a salt water resevoir to store heat absorbed via a solar panel during the day.
On the permafrost we all live on here, liquifaction happens a lot. A couple expensive houses down the road are a tourbus stop now.
We have a Water Furnace geothermal unit. It heats, cools and warms the floor. Four 200 foot wells are under the driveway. Works great. Not cheap to put in but free AC in the summer.
Where do you live? Churchill? That's were the permafrost is.
Put more styrofoam on the floor so you don't melt the permafrost when you get that firestove red hot. :o)
Same thing I have. Stll I burn alot of wood to keep the electric bill down, which hits around $350 a month in the winter. But you're right, it's great in the summer.
Nope I was thinking of the heat pumps that use either horizontal or vertical arrays full of pumped antifreeze.
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