Services - Geoexchange

Geo-exchange is our most asked about service we provide, people are more interested then ever, and that’s because people may have heard a little about it, but in general it is relatively unknown about by the public. Yet, it is the most cost efficient heating AND cooling system you can put in your home with the lowest carbon footprint available. The first recorded Geo-Exchange system was from a 1912 Swiss Patent, so as you can tell the idea has been around awhile. It has been very widely used in other countries and in the United States Midwest for the last two decades. Yet California has been a little slow to catch on. And why is that? Well, in the recent past California has enjoyed low energy rates and low fuel cost, but as we all know that time has come to a screeching halt. California is now looking hard for lower home heating and cooling costs, and are finding that Geo-Exchange is fitting the bill...literally.

The most common question is "what is Geo Exchange and what can it do for me?". Well, let me start by telling you what Geo- Exchange is NOT:

Geo -Exchange systems are NOT systems that require geothermal geysers.
They are NOT systems that require subsurface volcanic activity or any other existing water source from the earth.
They are NOT systems that require natural gas or propane.

What Geo-Exchange is? Well, in a nut shell, instead of using expensive fossil fuels, or the earth’s natural resources for heat and cool, we work with Mother Nature and use the earth’s natural heating and cooling to heat and cool your home. We do this by using Geo-ground loops that act as a heat sink to collect heat and deliver it into your home in the winter and dispel the heat from your home in the summer.

Air below ground is warmer than outside air

Conventional heating / cooling units are either Furnaces, Air Conditioners or Heat Pumps. Furnaces deal with heating only and Air Conditioners deliver cooled air only, but by the means of a reversing valve Heat Pumps can produce Heat and Cooling. In the winter, when its 30 degrees outside, conventional Heat Pumps will collect the heat from the outside air (yes believe it or not, there is heat in 30 degree ambient air) and through the principles of refrigeration will deliver that collected warm air into your home. Geo-Exchange units are Heat Pump as well, but instead of trying to collect warm air from the 30 ambient air, and using costly electricity to do it, it works differently.

First, we create ground loops and circulate water through them. Once you are about 4 ft. below the earth’s surface the ground temperature is about a constant 55 degrees, so the Heat Pump is collecting heat from a temperature remains relatively stable instead of 30. That difference is what saves you A LOT of money. It is the same concept when working with the Air Conditioning season. In fact, in the summer months there is an additional bonus. Because we are expelling the heat from your home into the heat sink, via ground loops, we can actually take that heat and heat your water for your hot water needs before expelling it. Great by-product right? Free hot water Also, conventional Heat Pumps have to use a bit of electricity, which in some areas can be quite costly. Geo-Exchange Heat Pumps use only a small amount of electricity in comparison to Conventional Heat Pumps. This also saves you dollars. In fact, they will produce up to 5 units of heat for every unit of electricity used. We know that sounds amazing, but its because we work with the earth instead of against it.

So how dose it work? Well, the standard Geo-Exchange systems consists of 3 basic components, a duct system, the equipment and the Loop. Although we usually get very creative by adding many different amenities in accordance to your specific needs such as Air Cleaning, Zoning, Radiant floors.

The Geo-Exchange Duct System:

The ducting system while being a very essential and important part of any system is essentially the same as our well constructed duct system on a conventional Heating and Cooling system. (For more discussion in detail on ducting please check this site on our ducting page.)

The Geo-Exchange Equipment:

The Geo-Exchange Heat Pump is specialized as you might imagine. There are several brand type which we can install, however our brand of choice is Waterfurnace, because we feel it is the best and we would encourage you to check out their website at www.waterfurnace.com.

The Go-Exchange Ground Loop:

There are 3 distinct ways we can construct a Geo-Exchange loops for the heat sink. Vertically, Horizontally or with a Pond Loops and while the applications are different the principle is the same.

Vertical Geo- Exchange Loop:

Because Horizontal Geo-Exchange loops require a bit of land and a Geo-Exchange Pond Loop requires a water source that most homes don’t have, a number of our systems are done Vertically. Vertical Geo-Exchange loops are created by drilling a bore hole and no, it is not the same as water well drilling. Go-exchange bore drilling is highly specialized. There are very few Geo-Exchange drillers and even fewer driller that are good at what Vertical Loop they do. We work with only a few companies that meet with our expectations and they are in high demand through out the country. So be prepared, if your thinking of investing in this type of loop, there is sometimes a long waiting list to get your site drilled, and can take a few months. Other times they will be int area and will need to drill the next day. The good news is that the drilling can be done at virtually any stage of construction or install. Vertical drilling has the advantage that a loop can be placed in just about any type of soil, horizontal loops need to be soil specific. After the drilling is completed a polyethylene loop is placed into the bore and backfilled with a specialized grout. Once the loops are placed they are all brought together in a pit, heat welded and brought to the Heat Pump, where they are filled with water, and the system started up.

Horizontal Geo-Exchange Loop

If you have the land and right soil to support a horizontal loop we recommend this over a vertical loop because drilling cost are more expensive. On the average, you would need about acer of free land, but if you have slightly less, we can sometimes get creative. A horizontal loop is constructed by digging a very long trench rolling the loop into the ditch and backfilling the trench in. Again, once the loops are placed they are all brought together in a pit, heat welded and brought to the Heat Pump, where they are filled with water, and the system started up. This is a less expensive and an equally effective method. If you happen to have your own backhoe and want to save on digging cost, we are more than happy to have you do the digging. But keep in mind, the ditches MUST be to our specification or we can’t placed the loop.

Pond Loop

Pond Loop If you are lucky enough to have a water source this is the best way to go because there are no drilling and not nearly as much digging cost. You need to have approximately a half acre of year - round standing water, approximately 8 feet deep. There is some digging that will need to be done from the pond to the Heat Pump, but unless your pond is miles away, it usually isn’t a significant amount. One of the most common concerns from people who have ponds, is how it will effect their fish? During the construction and installation of the loop it can be disturbing to the habitat, any construction is disturbing to any habitat, including your home, your habitat. However, after the installation phase, everybody’s lives, including the fish’s, goes back to normal. The water will not raise in temperature any significant amount, no funky algae will start growing, and the loop is closed so pond water can not be contaminated.