Water Based - Closed Loop Geothermal System
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There are three types of water
based - closed loop geothermal
systems; horizontal, vertical and
pond.
1. Horizontal ground closed loops
This type is usually the most cost
effective when trenches are easy to
dig and the size of the yard is
adequate.
Workers use a backhoe to dig the
trenches three to six feet below the
ground in which they lay a series of
parallel plastic pipes.
based - closed loop geothermal
systems; horizontal, vertical and
pond.
1. Horizontal ground closed loops
This type is usually the most cost
effective when trenches are easy to
dig and the size of the yard is
adequate.
Workers use a backhoe to dig the
trenches three to six feet below the
ground in which they lay a series of
parallel plastic pipes.
Fluid runs through the pipe in a closed system. A typical horizontal loop will be 400 to
600 feet long for each ton of heating and cooling.
2. Vertical Ground Closed Loops
This type of loop is used where there is little yard space, when surface rocks make
digging impractical, or when you want to disrupt the landscape as little as possible.
Vertical holes 150 to 450 feet deep - much like wells - are bored in the ground, and a
single loop of pipe with a U-bend at the bottom is inserted before the hole is backfilled.
Each vertical pipe is then connected to a horizontal underground pipe that carries fluid in
a closed system to and from the indoor exchange unit. Vertical loops are generally more
expensive to install, but require less piping than horizontal loops because the Earth's
temperature is more stable farther below the surface.
3. Pond Closed Loops
This type of loop design may be the most economical when a home is near a body of
water such as a shallow pond or lake. Fluid circulates underwater through polyethylene
piping in a closed system, just as it does through ground loops. The pipes may be coiled
in a slinky shape to fit more of it into a given amount of space. Since it is a closed
system, it results in no adverse impacts on the aquatic system.
To date, geothermal heat pumps are an under-used technology, merely because few
people are aware of it's potential. The Department of Energy's Office of Geothermal
Technologies, however, wants to increase installations of geothermal systems to about
400,000 a year by 2005. If the goal is reached, that would mean that 2 million systems
would be in service, saving consumers over $400 million per year in energy bills and
reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by over 1 million metric tons of carbon each
year.
600 feet long for each ton of heating and cooling.
2. Vertical Ground Closed Loops
This type of loop is used where there is little yard space, when surface rocks make
digging impractical, or when you want to disrupt the landscape as little as possible.
Vertical holes 150 to 450 feet deep - much like wells - are bored in the ground, and a
single loop of pipe with a U-bend at the bottom is inserted before the hole is backfilled.
Each vertical pipe is then connected to a horizontal underground pipe that carries fluid in
a closed system to and from the indoor exchange unit. Vertical loops are generally more
expensive to install, but require less piping than horizontal loops because the Earth's
temperature is more stable farther below the surface.
3. Pond Closed Loops
This type of loop design may be the most economical when a home is near a body of
water such as a shallow pond or lake. Fluid circulates underwater through polyethylene
piping in a closed system, just as it does through ground loops. The pipes may be coiled
in a slinky shape to fit more of it into a given amount of space. Since it is a closed
system, it results in no adverse impacts on the aquatic system.
To date, geothermal heat pumps are an under-used technology, merely because few
people are aware of it's potential. The Department of Energy's Office of Geothermal
Technologies, however, wants to increase installations of geothermal systems to about
400,000 a year by 2005. If the goal is reached, that would mean that 2 million systems
would be in service, saving consumers over $400 million per year in energy bills and
reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by over 1 million metric tons of carbon each
year.
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