A typical heat pump is about the same size and shape as a
natural gas furnace, and is usually installed in the basement
utility room. It has connections to the return air and supply
air, and extra pipes connecting to the ground loop (also the
hot water tank and in-floor heating subsystem if you have
those options).
Heat pumps are very quiet while operating, and make about
the same level of sound as a modern refrigerator. We install
our heat pumps on sound dampening mats, and use sound absorbing
materials and canvas connectors in the plenums to isolate
vibration noise.
The EES ground loop is buried deep beneath the ground, with
two 1” to 1.5” pipes entering through a hole in
your home’s foundation; there are no exposed components
or equipment outside. The heat pump, flow center and associated
plumbing are located in your utility/furnace room.
The size of the EES is designed to the building’s heat
loss (how many btu of heat per hour leaks out of your home)
and cooling requirements. A very well insulated home requires
significantly less heat, and therefore a smaller EES, than
an older poorly insulated home of the same size.
The size of the ground loop depends on the size of system,
the design of the ground loop, and the soil conditions.
For a vertical loop, a rough estimate for planning purposes
is one borehole of 60 meters (200 feet) deep per one ton (12,000 btu) of heating load. Each borehole should be 3 to 5 meters
(10 to 16 feet) apart. The boreholes can be placed to fit
in available land, they may be drilled in a row, a rectangle,
or other shape that fits into the landscape. For a horizontal
loop, one trench of 106 meters (350 feet) in length is required
per ton of heating load. The trench is typically 2.5 meters
(8 feet) or more deep, and backfilled with the soil originally
removed. As per Canadian C448S standards, we use only high-density
polyethylene pipe for the ground loop.
A vertical loop EES can easily be installed in city lots,
if there is sufficient room to space the boreholes. Other
considerations include impact to the landscaping, decks and
other home features, and access for the drilling and digging
equipment.
Yes! A geothermal EES uses electricity to transfer the ground’s
heat, rather than creating heat by burning natural gas. You
can have the utility company remove your gas meter, and have
an EES provide all your home’s heat and hot water requirements.
The heat pump used in an EES typically has a COP (Coefficient
of Performance) of around 3.2 to 4.5 – every 1 unit
of electrical energy put in returns up to 4.5 times heat equivalent.
A typical home user can expect to see monthly reduction of
30% to 50% of heating and cooling costs, compared to natural
gas heating and electric air conditioning.
The initial investment for a geothermal EES system is greater
than that of a conventional system. The simple payback on
a residential geothermal EES compared to a similar high efficiency
natural gas furnace and air conditioning system is around
5 to 10 years (depending on natural gas and electricity rates).
For remote acreages where the cost of running natural gas
services cost ten’s of thousands of dollars, the payback
of an EES can be immediate.
There will be installation charges for any electrical work,
ductwork, water hook-up, landscaping/trenching, and other
provisions or adaptations to your home that are required.
Infinity Geothermal can help you estimate these expenses and
work with subcontractors to minimize costs.
Yes, an EES can be very successfully retrofitted into many
existing homes. Often the existing forced air ductwork has
sufficient capacity to be used for the EES. We use innovative
drilling rigs that can get into the tight spots on city lots,
with minimum impact to fences and landscaping.
We offer heat pumps and hot water tanks that have emergency
electric heat backup. Should the ground loop or heat pump
compressor loop fail, the unit can provide sufficient electrical
generated heat until our technician arrives onsite to resolve
the problem.
GeoSmart heat pumps come with a standard 10 year
residential warranty: 10 years on refrigeration parts, 5 years
for system parts, and 1 year labour. All systems are CSA
approved. The high-density polyethylene pipe has a 50-year
manufacturer’s warranty, and we warranty the ground loop we
install to be free of defects for 25 years.
(Illustrations courtesy of Natural
Resources Canada)
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