Geothermal

How Does Geothermal Work?

The earth is full of heat, regardless of season or local climate conditions. Just 8 feet underground temperatures remain relatively constant at 50 degrees Fahrenheit. GHP systems use that stable temperature to heat or cool your home. The GHP can be equipped with a “desuperheater” that can heat household water during warm weather months by taking heat from the house to produce hot water for bathing and laundry machines, which is another utility cost-saving feature.

The experienced Molitor Plumbing, Heating, & Cooling team will first assess your property’s landscape design, soil, terrain, and plot space considerations. Recommendations are then made to use one of three installation options to configure the underground heat exchanger pipes.

The most common GHP installation is a horizontal system of closed-loop high density PE pipes that are buried at the proper depth by trenching. An anti-freeze solution continually moves through the pipes up to the house, transferring the natural ground heat into the home’s GHP unit for warmth in cold weather months, which is distributed by forced air throughout the home. In warm weather the process reverses, acting as an air conditioner, with the pump drawing heat from the house and transferring it back to the earth for its cooling effect.

Two other GHP design options are available depending on your property’s unique makeup. When property space is at a minimum, a vertical closed-pipe system may be used by drilling to a depth of about 150-300 feet. And finally, if you have access to a deep-water (8 feet or more) pond or lake, there’s no need for trenching or drilling, which helps reduce installation costs, using the water bed’s constant temperature in a closed loop system.