Ground source heat pumps -- anyone have any experience/knowledge? (transfer, cost)

[netdragon]

I'm starting to get curious about ground source heat pumps. They use pipes underground to take advantage of the nearly constant underground temperature. The refrigerant is then pumped back into the heat pump. Has anyone tried them or heard from someone first hand experience? Or does anyone have any info?

[atlantagreg30127]

All I can say is that some time ago they did a special "green" type show on the news, and discussed these systems. They interviewed several people who had them, and they all said they were very pleased with the way they worked and the energy savings on their bills. They are however, pretty expensive to put in.

[JasonPaul]

I don't know alot on them but I wrote a paper earlier in the year on Alternative Energy and did some research on the pumps. From what I remember and like Greg said they are expensive and they need a decent bit of land also for the loops in ground. I seem to remember the cost could be between $15,000 and $40,000 for the entire system but I can't remember the savings in the long run. But without getting too much into it here's 2 websites that I got information from that should give you better insight into them. They seem like a great idea though.

EERE Consumer's Guide: Types of Geothermal Heat Pump Systems

Geothermal Heat Pumps

[K'ledgeBldr]

"Ground source heatpump"- a fancy name for a heatpump system that doesn't have a condensor unit. Instead, it uses an underground vertical or horizonal closed loop system instead of ambient air and a fan.
This is totally different from a "geothermal" system. A lot of people get confused between the two.

[JasonPaul]

Originally Posted by K'ledgeBldr

"Ground source heatpump"- a fancy name for a heatpump system that doesn't have a condensor unit. Instead, it uses an underground vertical or horizonal closed loop system instead of ambient air and a fan.
This is totally different from a "geothermal" system. A lot of people get confused between the two.

Interesting what are those differences? I was under the assumption that they are the same.


from http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/pro...heatpumps.html

What Is a Ground-Source Heat Pump?

"Ground-source heat pump" is the name for a broad category of space conditioning systems that employ a geothermal resource—the ground, groundwater, or surface water—as both a heat source and sink. GSHPs use a reversible refrigeration cycle to provide either heating or cooling. (A heat sink is a body of air or liquid to which heat can be transferred.)
GSHPs operate in much the same manner as air-source heat pumps. Both use a compressor to move refrigerant around a closed loop, transferring heat between an indoor and another coil where heat is absorbed or rejected. As the name implies, an air-source heat pump (ASHP) uses outside air, flowing over its outdoor coil, as the heat source and sink. The main drawback of ASHPs is that their performance depends on ambient air temperature, which can vary by as much as 100°F over a year. Both the capacity (i.e., the ability to produce heating and cooling) and efficiency of an ASHP are significantly reduced at the extreme temperatures experienced in summer and winter.

[netdragon]

I thought they were the same too...?