There are two main reasons for geothermal heat pump problems. The first is oversizing the geothermal heat pump unit, and the second is undersizing the earth loop. Geothermal heat pumps are oversized because geothermal heat pump contractors do not calculate accurate Manual J calculations on the home that they are estimating. It's a lot of work to calculate a Manual J on a building. You MUST measure the floors, walls, windows, and ceilings to get the correct square footages, and you MUST find out what the insulation values are to get the correct BTUHs of heat that are traveling out of or into your building through the floors, walls, windows, and ceilings.
If an accurate Manual J calculation is not done, your new geothermal heat pump system will not operate correctly and the efficiency will be as much as 60 percent lower than it could be. This will cost you a lot more money to heat and cool your home. This is why the first step in designing your geothermal system is sizing the geothermal unit.
More about sizing your geothermal heat pump
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Next is deciding what kind of earth loop system you will use: open or closed; horizontal loop, vertical bores, or pond. If you have access to a well, you may be able to go open loop, and we can tell you how to evaluate your well water to see if it can be used for geothermal. If you have access to a pond or lake on your property, we can tell you how to tell if it can be used for geothermal. Most people go with a closed loop system. We will need to know about your property soil conditions to properly design your earth loop. Included in the design will be simple drawings showing the earth loop piping lay out, and how the piping will enter your home. We will design the earth loop manifolds, and we have drawings and photographs of the manifolds so you can see what they are, and how they are installed.
Purchase our open loop service
Purchase our closed loop design service
There are several ways to install your closed earth loop pumping system. There are flow centers, both pressurized and non-pressurized, or you can save money with a pump and DIY flush ports. We have all of the instructions for installing a closed earth loop, including the drawings, and pictures, and we will have the hard part already done for you, the sizing of the pumps and earth loop. We include pump sizing and model selections with our earth loop design service.
We will need to know what kind of heat distribution system you will be using: air ducting or hydronic piping? We can design a new system for you, or evaluate your existing system for use with a geothermal heat pump.
About hydronic radiant floor design
If you purchase your geothermal heat pump system design from us, you will get installation instructions to do it yourself, and your questions answered by email and phone. We also send fully-labeled schematics and drawings, and links for parts available for purchase online, as part of our design service. We can work with you, and your heating, plumbing, electrical, or excavating contractors, so you will get the best efficiency and longest life out of your new geothermal heat pump system.
After you have everything installed, we will walk you though the start up of the geothermal heat pump. We will check the performance of the geothermal heat pump, and calculate the energy efficiency of it. This tells you if your system is operating at its highest efficiency. High energy efficiency will mean the best comfort you have ever known, the lowest energy costs you can get*, and a long 25-30 year life for your geothermal heat pump.
*From an active heating system (vs. a passive system like an earth-shielded home).