Male1: At this secluded ranch in the Texas Hill Country, they’re drilling deep into the earth. But not for oil instead this crew is drilling to install a geothermal heating and cooling system for this new house.
Geothermal means pertaining to the heat of the earth. And by using the earth to provide up to 50% of your energy needs you get an energy efficient and economical way to stay cool in summer and warm in winter.
A number of shafts are drilled into the earth anywhere from 150 to 250 feet deep to reach a depth where the temperature of the earth is constant. Two links of plastic pipe are connected into the u-beam interrupted into the hole creating a close loop system. The pipes are then filled with water, the water’s pump thru the pipes down into the ground. In hot weather, a heat exchanger in the geothermal unit absorbs the heat from the house and transfers that heat to the water in the pipe.
The circulating water carries the heated water down into the cooler ground where the heat is absorb into the earth. The cooled water is then re-circulated back to up to the geothermal unit. The heat exchanger uses that water to cool the house. This exchange of heat and cool using the constant temperature deep inside the earth reduces the energy low required to cool your house. This can save up to 50% on energy cost. In cold weather, the process is reversed. The climate in the area you live in determines how deep the shafts need to be drilled for the geothermal system. Air conditioning contractor Dave Gattin, says installing an geothermal system is an exact science.
Dave Gattin: We have a program that tells us how many feet of pipe we need depending on the earth temperature. In Austin, Texas, the earth temperature is 72 degrees, once you re below 20 ft and in the Northern, climate the average earth’s temperature is about 50 degrees year round. And again it depends ton of air condition would have 150 ft in the Northern climates per ton of air condition where we’d have 250 ft. that’s because we got a 22 degree difference in temperature between Texas and Indiana.
Male1: The rule of thumb in a geothermal system is that you need to dig one shaft for each ton of air conditioning. This house would have a ten ton system so there will be ten holes each drill, 250 ft into the earth. Once the holes are dug, workers roll out the polyethylene plastic pipe that will circulate the water through the system. Nearly a mile of pipe will be needed for this system. In each shaft, the 2 pieces of pipe are joined together with the u-bend coupling to complete the circuit.
Dave Gatiin: We’re going to put our u-bends on the bottom of the pipes that we have there are two pipes 300 ft long each and we have two different u-bends, one is the straight elbow and one is close cup of short elbow. We fuse this two together on the pipe and this makes a complete circuit where we go at the bottom of the hole and back out again with water continuous circulation for close loop heat exchanges. Ah, Jason you got fuse hour in watching the temperature?
Male2: Yes sir, it 5-25-5-50.
Dave Gattin: 5-25 is good, that’s what we’re shoot for.
Male1: By heating the ends of the couplings with the fusion iron, the plastic pipe is thermally welded together to form a u-beam that will never leak. Kent Kuffner of water furnace says that a completed geothermal system at a nearby house is already paying dividends.
Kent Kuffner: This unit is five ton system that provides all the heating and cooling for this house. Down here are the connections to the earth loop, water enters the unit right here it goes to the water to refer the heat exchange are located in this part of the unit. Returns back to the loop at this connection, it’s circulated by two pumps through the earth loop whenever the unit is heating or cooling the house. This is a 3600 sq ft home with average summer outdoor temperature of around 95 degrees in this area, the homeowner is experiencing an average utility bill for a $108.00 per month and that’s a big savings over ordinary heating equipment.
Now the advantage of a geothermal heating and cooling systems is its ability to heat water using the device called a desuperheater and a simple connection between the unit and the water heater. Hot water is generated and delivered into the water tank. Geothermal units will heat water for a fraction of a cost on ordinary water heater. In fact, some homeowners find that the unit makes enough hot water that they can turn off the power to their water heater.
Male1: So, if you are looking for an environmentally friendly, economical way to heat and cool your new or existing house a geothermal system might be right for you. If you like more information about the geothermal systems, visit the Water Furnace website at waterfurnace.com.
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