A geothermal heat pump is a system designed for extracting heat from under ground and using it as a viable renewable energy source in the form of geothermal energy.
The geothermal heat pump system uses the fact that the earth is excellent at storing heat and therefore can be harnessed and transferred into buildings via the geothermal heat pump.
Below 10 feet underground, the temperature stays at between 50-60°F all year round and the geothermal heat pump uses that fact to provide hot water to a building. A geothermal system differs from a conventional furnace or boiler by its ability to transfer heat versus the standard method of producing the heat.
With the ever increasing cost of fossil fuels renewable energy will take center stage in the future with geothermal holding a viable solution to the growing energy crisis in our mist. Geothermal energy heats buildings more efficiently than fossil fuel energies as there is no waste and no CO2 emissions produced.
A heat pump has three components, a loop field on the property, a liquid pump pack and a water-source heat pump. The loop field can be installed either vertically or horizontally.
The purpose of the loop field is to transfer heat to and from the ground. The size depends on the size of the building. The capacity of one loop is one ton or 12,000 units per hour which equals 3.5 kilowatts.
The average domestic house will be fitted with 3-5 tons or 18 kilowatts of power. Heat pumps have the ability to capture heat from one location and transfer it to another maintaining its current temperature. An example of this is a refrigerator.