subject: Using Ground Source Heat Pumps For Heating. [print this page] Ground source heat pumps deliver a somewhat inexpensive and eco friendly way to use spare heat from the earth for heating and cooling both housing and business structures.
Early set-up costs can be considerably higher than traditional air-source systems, but geothermal heat pumps present significantly lessen ownership costs over the long run.
Ground source heat pumps (GSHPs) are systems that make use of the earth's heat to deliver heating, cooling and hot water for commercial organisations and houses. The systems are fashioned to make use of the fact that temperatures stay at a near constant level of amongst 7 C and 21 C just a couple of feet beneath the ground, irrespective of geographic location or surface air temperatures. Throughout winter, the devices essentially extract heat from the ground and move it to a commercial building or house, while in summer the systems extract heat from inside buildings and shift it to the ground. Ground source heat pumps are electrically powered and are occasionally referred to as geothermal heat pumps, or geo-exchange pumps, or just as earth-coupled heat pumps.
A full-fledged GSHP system is made up of a heat pump, a ground loop system for taking in heat from the ground or rejecting it back to the earth, and air ducts or radiant floor systems for giving the hot or cold air. The ground loop system usually consists of a lot of loops of plastic tubing loaded with antifreeze liquid or water, buried under the ground in horizontal or vertical fashion. During winter, the liquid in the loops accumulates heat from the ground and forces it to the heat pump where a compressor raises the temperature even more before circulating it throughout the building. The movement of the liquid inside the loops is reversed throughout summer. This results in the warmer air being drawn out from the building and transferred to the ground while cooler liquid is circulated back to the heat pump and then through the building. An open loop system performs in pretty much the same style, but in this case the liquid in the loops is usually ejected into the earth.
Ground source heat pumps have been used since the 1940s and are thought to be a more eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative to conventional air-transfer based heating and cooling systems. Studies have found that GSHP systems have heating efficiencies up to 70% higher than standard systems and cooling efficiencies of nearly 40% above than air-conditioners. The preliminary cost of setting up a geothermal heat pump can be quite difficult compared to standard heating and cooling systems. Nevertheless, over the long term the pumps are cheaper to own and to preserve. They also can deliver up to 50% savings on energy consumption. In some cases, a geothermal heat pump is put in along with an air-source heat pump so as to reduce initial installation costs.
