Geothermal Heat Pumps

If you are ready to start saving on your annual home heating and cooling costs, geothermal heat pumps are an option you should definitely consider. These state of the art systems are growing in popularity in the Greater Cleveland, OH area and all over the country.

Apple Heating & Cooling counts geothermal heat pumps among our many specialties and we are always glad to answer any questions you may have about them. Certainly geothermal heat pumps are not an appropriate home heating and cooling solution for everyone, but they will work well for more homes than you might think and yours just may be one of them.

How Geothermal Heat Pumps Work

Basically, geothermal heat pumps take heat from the ground below and around your home and transfers that heat into the air of your home. This is possible because of the loop of pipes that extends into the soil around your home as part of your geothermal heat pump. The liquid, a mixture of anti-freeze and water, flows through this pipe loop and is able to absorb heat from the ground. It then returns it to the compressor unit inside your home where that heat can then be transferred to the air.

That heated air is then distributed throughout your house by an air handler or blower as the liquid returns to the ground to begin the cycle over again. Unlike furnace-based forced air system, geothermal heat pumps do not provide strong blasts of hot air periodically. Instead, they produce a continuous stream of warmer air that can keep your house at a comfortable and consistent temperature.

In the summer, however, the process is reversed and a geothermal heat pump can take the heat from the air of your house and transfer it back to the ground. This means that a geothermal heat pump is really a year round solution for keeping your home at a comfortable temperature.

Geothermal Heat Pump Energy Savings

Because geothermal heat pumps do not actually produce heat, they require very little energy to operate. That can translate into substantial savings over time as you will wind up using much less energy to keep your home comfortable year-round. While it is true that installation of a geothermal heat pump is more expensive than the installation of a traditional furnace-based system would be, you will quickly make up the difference in monthly energy bill savings.

Geothermal heat pumps have an efficiency rating known as the COP, or Co-efficient Of Performance. Simply put, this number compares the amount of heat produced by a heat pump as compared to an electric resistance heater. An electric resistance heater has a COP of 1.0. This means you would get one unit of heat for one unit of electricity consumed. Geothermal heat pumps have a COP of about 4.0 with some models rated as high as 5.0.

This means if you run an electric heater and consume one kilowatt of electricity you would produce 3,413 BTUs. A BTU or British Thermal Unit is about the amount of heat produced by one match. If you used the same kilowatt of electricity to run a geothermal heat pump system with a COP of 4.0, you would produce 13,652 BTUs. It is because of the incredible efficiency of geothermal systems that they are becoming more popular as a heating system choice every year.

Geothermal Heat Pump Costs

It is well known that geothermal systems can cost much more than a traditional system. But you may be surprised at how quickly the extra investment is recovered with a geothermal system.

First, there is the efficiency. These systems operate a much lower operating cost than traditional systems. Then there is the savings on hot water. Geothermal systems installed by Apple Heating & Cooling always include hot water production. The total cost for a geothermal system in a 2500 square foot home for all heating, all air conditioning and all domestic hot water can be about $1200 per year.

There is also a Federal Tax Credit for geothermal installations of 30% of the installed cost with no limit. When accounting for the tax credit, the difference in the installed cost of a geothermal system as compared to other high efficiency systems, the additional cost is surprisingly low. Always check with your accounting professional before making decisions that affect your taxes.

Geothermal Heat Pump Installation Options

Geothermal systems extract heat from the ground or reject heat into it. In the case of an open system water is pumped into the geothermal unit where heat is absorbed from the water or rejected into it, then the water is dumped away from the source. A closed loop system uses a system of polyethylene pipe installed in ground well below the frost line. A mixture of water and anti-freeze is pumped through the pipe where heat is absorbed or rejected.

At Apple Heating & Cooling we only install closed-loop geothermal systems. One reason is open systems can be plagued with low water supply or excessive maintenance due to water quality. With closed-loop installations most are installed as horizontal, vertical or in a pond.

Probably the most common installations for new construction are horizontal ones. To complete this type of installation, a trench is dug in your property near your house. This trench is usually about 5 feet deep and 100-400 feet long. The number of trenches required depends on your household heating and cooling load. This type of installation usually provides the lowest installed cost for the loop. It is prevalent in new construction because there is no mature lawn and landscaping to disturb.

For retrofit installations – ones where we are replacing an existing system with a geothermal system – the most popular choice is the vertical loop system. A vertical installation of the ground loop consists of several bore holes into which the plastic pipe is installed. These bore holes are usually about 175 feet deep. This type of installation is popular because disturbing of the yard and subsequent repair is minimized, in spite of the added cost.

Pond loops are installed by pre-building special loops of pipe, connected to each other with a header, and sunk into the pond. The pond must be of sufficient depth and size for this type of installation to be a viable option. Call us at Apple Heating & Cooling for more information on your pond, to see if it is suitable for use with a geothermal system.

If you are located anywhere in the Northeastern Ohio area and would like to learn more about the geothermal heat pumps that Apple offers, give us a call today. We look forward to hearing from you.

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