What types of geothermal heat pumps are available?
There are essentially two types: • Water based geothermal heat pump units, which include: *Open loop units that pump water from the earth or a pond, exchange heat and then dump the water. *Closed loop units that circulate a water and antifreeze mixture in a closed plastic loop, extract heat from the earth, exchange that heat into the refrigerant circuit through a heat exchanger, then distribute the heat using the refrigeration circuit. • Direct GeoExchange (sometimes referred to as “DX”) systems, including the EarthLinked® brand, that directly exchange heat with the earth by placing the refrigerant circuit in direct contact with its heat source for heating and its heat sink for cooling.
