Geo Thermo Heating and Cooling

The Earth is also a source of energy that is being actually tapped to provide both heat and cooling to your home. This energy that comes from the core of the Earth is known as Geothermal. The geothermal energy is utilized through a heating or cooling system that works using geo thermo dynamics.

The basic elements of the system include a biodegradable and environment-friendly liquid antifreeze, the antifreeze circulating pump module, a heat pump (a refrigeration compressor device), and a ground loop that comprises buried loops of piping.

These loops are buried in the ground in the form of horizontal or vertical piping that is connected to the antifreeze circulating pump installed inside a home. The conventional pump module circulates the biodegradable antifreeze and water mixture through the buried piping.

The mixture absorbs heat from the ground in winter as it flows through the buried piping. The heat pump circulates the refrigerant and a condenser (heat exchanger) takes this heat and transfers it through the refrigerant to the air that circulates the home thereby heating the home.

In summer, the same system works in reverse, thereby cooling your home. In this case, the refrigerant takes the heat from the hot air circulating the home and transfers it to the mixture through the condenser. The hot mixture then transfers the heat to the ground (which is at a lower temperature than the hot air) through the buried piping.

This is how geo thermal heating and cooling of homes takes place. But what are the pros and cons of geothermal heating?

Well, the geothermal pros and cons are in the form of savings in energy usage costs and certain limitations. Let me explain this in some detail. You see, the above geo thermo heating system saves you energy usage costs as the heat energy taken from the Earth does not cost you.

You do incur a somewhat high initial cost of procuring the equipment and accessories that form the above described system. However, it is still advantageous in the long run as the savings in energy usage costs forms an effective repayment of investment expenditures.

Moreover, you will find that maintenance costs of the geosource heat pumps and accessories are quite low. Another benefit is that the system is very reliable as there is very little chance of the refrigerant or the antifreeze liquid from leaking out. Moreover, the buried piping is designed for a service life of about 50 years, so there are absolutely no worries on this front.

No environmental hazards are imposed by the above geo thermo system. The only energy required by the system is the electricity used for moving the heat between the ground and the home. This includes the electrical energy required to drive the heat pump compressor and that used by the mixture circulating pump.

The geo thermo system can pay back your investment in as little as 2 years to maximum 7 years. The only con of the system is the difficult to implement effective and adequate insulation for the above-ground portion of the system.