Ground-source heat pump (geotherm) in CO (Black Forest: houses, transfer, to buy)

[Bob from down south]

Does anyone have any first-hand experience using a ground-source heat pump system in Colorado? Most of what I find when searching for info is from people trying to sell the systems. Not much out there written by happy users.

I'm talking about a heat pump system that uses a deeply-buried closed plumbing loop to circulate coolant and transfer heat to/from the ground.

[sterlinggirl]

There's a lesson to be learned about clay soils here:
au milieu des vaches: Clay & Geothermal Heating

[Bob from down south]

Originally Posted by sterlinggirl

There's a lesson to be learned about clay soils here:
au milieu des vaches: Clay & Geothermal Heating (http://www.aumilieudesvaches.com/energy/clay_geothermal_heating_13.php - broken link)

Thanks...and also an interesting viewpoint on power conversion efficiencies.

[sterlinggirl]

Originally Posted by Bob from down south

Thanks...and also an interesting viewpoint on power conversion efficiencies.

I thought so too.

[multitrak]

if you think clay soils could be a problem, you might want to get a copy of this... Potentially Swelling Soil and Rock in the Front Range Urban Corridor, Colorado (http://dnr.state.co.us/geostore/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=EG-07 - broken link)

re: geothermal heat pumps, geoexchange/intermountain energy/delta-montrose electric association is pushing them in the montrose area, see here... </title> <title> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0"> <meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document"> <meta name="Microsoft Theme" content="none, default"> (broken link) since they report 400+ geoexchange customers, you might try talking to some of the longer term users and see what they really think about the technology.

as an aside, dmea installed (2000) at their hq a h power residential scale 10kw fuel cell. June, 2000 Energy Services Bulletin although this model extracts hydrogen from propane, i prefer a natural gas version since it's cheaper. in addition to generating electricity, a side benefit is using the fuel cell waste heat for hot water. fwiw

[Bob from down south]

I find most of the references out there are really old.

I found an outfit up in Black Forest that does ground source geothermal systems...guess when I arrive I'll have to go see if they can give me some local references.

[TechGromit]

Originally Posted by Bob from down south

Does anyone have any first-hand experience using a ground-source heat pump system in Colorado? Most of what I find when searching for info is from people trying to sell the systems. Not much out there written by happy users.

Try the forums at
GreenBuildingTalk - Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF), Structural Insulated Panels (SIP), Radiant Heating, Geothermal Heat Pumps, Solar Power

lots of happy users and advice. The system your referring to is commonly called a Close Loops Geothermal system, its about average in price and efficency (went talking about the types of geothermal systems) the other types are open loop geothermal (where you use well water) and DX Geothermal (Direct exchange, the system uses feon instead of water).

[jazzlover]

Ground source heat pumps make a lot of sense in places that require mechanical air conditioning in summer, since the compressor units can also be used for air conditioning, with a corresponding betterment in energy efficiency using the underground heat exchanger. In Colorado, the case for these units is much less compelling, since few places require mechanical air conditioning to be comfortable. See the related thread on A/C vs. swamp cooling ( http://www.city-data.com/forum/denve...nditioner.html ).

The best bang for the buck here in Colorado is just to have a very well-insulated and relatively air-tight house (being aware of "sick building syndrome" and potential radon issues if the house is TOO airtight), and a very efficient furnace--95% for forced air and something approaching that for radiant hot-water is available. Finally, the biggest savings (which most overhoused Americans will eventually have to embrace) is just LESS SQUARE FOOTAGE. I recently moved and cut my heated square footage by about 40%--and am enjoying corresponding savings in energy. What's ridiculous about it is that most people spend umpteen amount of money to buy, heat, cool, and maintain a bunch of square footage just to store a bunch of crap that they seldom even look at or use. I am still being pretty ruthless about eliminating more of that junk out of my life--and doing it is quite liberating, I'm finding out.

[TheBeach]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

... What's ridiculous about it is that most people spend umpteen amount of money to buy, heat, cool, and maintain a bunch of square footage just to store a bunch of crap that they seldom even look at or use...

I totally agree. You hit the nail right on the head. I'm guilty of that myself. In every house I have ever lived, the house has been packed to the ceiling with "stuff". In 25 years of owing houses, this is the first house where I could park (1) car in the garage. The garage is 900 square feet, and all I can get it in is one car even now. I have given away truckloads of stuff to the various charities over the years. Hauled tons of stuff to the junkyard. Sold others. And I still have about 1/2 of our house dedicated to "junk".

I miss the "smaller" 2,500 SF houses we use to have. It helped keep the junk level down a bit. With a large house on a large lot, you can really go to town and load up on the junk

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by TheBeach

With a large house on a large lot, you can really go to town and load up on the junk

I think this is one of the laws of physics: Crap expands to fill the available space.