What is a Geothermal Heat Pump?
Though similar to air-source heat pumps, geothermal heat pumps use the ground instead of outside air to provide both heating and air conditioning. Geothermal heat pumps are among the most efficient heating and cooling technologies currently available because they use the earth’s stable temperature. Once they are installed, a home or building owner can save money on their heating/cooling bills and save the environment by reducing the amount of pollution produce by fossil fuel systems. Types of Geothermal Heat Pump Systems There are four basic types of ground loop systems. Three of these—horizontal, vertical, and pond/lake—are closed-loop systems. The fourth type of system is the open-loop option. Which one of these is best depends on the climate, soil conditions, available land, and local installation costs at the site. All of these approaches can be used for residential and commercial building applications.1 Closed-Loop Systems Horizontal This type of installation is generally most cos
A heat pump is a mechanical device used for heating and cooling which operates on the principle that heat can be moved from a warmer temperature to a cooler temperature. A geothermal heat pump uses the earth to warm us in the winter and cool us in the summer. You already have a heat pump in your home – your refrigerator. If you put your hand behind it you’ll feel the heat that has been removed from the food inside the refrigerator. This is the same principle that ECONAR uses to move heat to and from the home and earth. The Technical View of the Heat Pump Process. Remember that the heat pump moves heat from a low temperature source to a high temperature source. The process of elevating low temperature heat to over 100°F and transferring it indoors involves a cycle of evaporation, compression, condensation and expansion. A refrigerant is used as the heat transfer medium which circulates within the heat pump. The cycle starts as the cold liquid refrigerant passes through a heat exchanger
