Geo Thermal

[Smac355]

Hey guys new to this forum. Looks like a lot of cool projects going on and I'm glad I found this. I'm looking at possibly purchasing an investment property which has a lot of land and of course my goal is to build a sweet garage/workshop. The utilities are currently water/septic and oil heat, however there is public water/sewer and gas at the curb which is good.

Geothermal energy has me very interested, however is pretty expensive in the NorthEast mainly due to drilling costs. I'm wondering that if i switch over to public utilities can the old water well be retrofitted for geothermal? I have no idea how deep it is etc, but if anyone has done it let me know! Oh and any estimated costs would be appreciated.

Thanks alot for the insight guys!

 

[Smac355]

I'd like to do radiant floor in the garage so geothermal would be a good fit for this type of setup...

 

[50cal]

There was recently a discussion on this same subject try search or read back a few pages. I havs GEO and am not a expert but 1 well probably is not sufficient, except for maybe some kind of pump and dump system.

 

[russlaferrera]

I have a 3K sq ft home with a geo thermal heat pump. The wells (3) looped together are 330 feet long.

This type of system uses a closed loop. The water mixed with alcohol goes from the furnace coil thru the 330 feet of piping, transferring or absorbing the heat as needed for A/C or heat requirements.

This cost us $6k in 1996.

IMO for a shop, I would go with Pex in the floor.

 

[Smac355]

I'm assuming you have vertical loops correct? and yes PEX radiant floor is what I'm thinking, hence why i think a goethermal setup might work nicely. Since there is at least 1 well drilled there should be some cost savings.

 

[Chloe Taylor]

I'd like to do radiant floor in the garage so geothermal would be a good fit for this type of setup...

Radient flooring, sounds wonderful....

 

[rikmeister]

look at doing it horizontal instead with slinkys. that is what i did much much cheaper. you can buy the whole system on the net for 10K for 4 tons.

 

[mrobins297aaa]

rik, how many feet of trench did you have to put in for 4tons and how deep were they?

are you saving money with it?

 

[PaulR]

Big tax credit.

Huge.

 

[Dkramer]

I'm wondering that if i switch over to public utilities can the old water well be retrofitted for geothermal? I have no idea how deep it is etc, but if anyone has done it let me know! Oh and any estimated costs would be appreciated.

Thanks alot for the insight guys!

If you are thinking of using the well to put a loop in, you will need more than one well. If you are thinking of using the well water, and pumping the water thru the unit, you will need a good producing well. And some localities only let you do that if you put the water back into the ground. (not the same well however) If there are no restrictions on pumping and dumping, you could dump it into a pond or something. Gallons a minute will depend on the size of unit, but it will be several, 4-10 maybe, depending on the size of unit.

 

[Traditional hotrodder]

Using your existing well for a pump & dump system would work for a geothermal heating system if these 2 requirements are met.

1-There is a place to discharge the water such as a lake, stream or pond.

2-The gallons per minute output of the existing well is sufficient.

To utilize the 1 well for a closed loop system would not work as it's not sufficient enough for only being 1 loop. As stated before you'll need 1 vertical loop per ton of heat pump.

 

[jrschwit]

Geothermal is an excellent approach and can be very efficient if designed and installed correctly. It can also be very inefficient and problem-prone if not done correctly. Strongly recommend that you do a lot of reading online and then consult with one or more local geothermal contractors. The key is to accurately know your heating/cooling loads and then have a system properly designed for YOUR specific parameters.

There are many rules of thumb floating around, such as one ton capacity per well for a vertical loop system, which may be reasonably accurate or wildly inaccurate for your conditions. There are many variables to consider for closed loops (horizontal or vertical) and open systems. Too many to list here but a competent geothermal contractor should be able to plan for all of them and advise which concept (closed loop/open system; horizontal/vertical, etc) would be best for your needs. You may have to search a bit, but I have found contractors that are willing to perform the design and then support with as much or as little of the installation as the owner wants.

You mention the possibility of using the existing well for the heat pump. That is an excellent concept and, designed properly, will yield near ideal temperature water for your heat pump year round. Though, as Traditional says, you need to know its capacity and consider discharge. An often overlooked cost, though, when considering overall efficiency, is the cost to pump the water out of the ground. Most closed loops can operate with very small pumps consuming negligible power. But pumping considerable quantities od water out of the ground takes much more power.....enough that it may eat considerably into anticipated overall efficiency.

In my case, I am retrofitting my home (and large basement shop/garage) with a geothermal system using a closed pond loop. I performed the system design after a lot of research and am paying a local company to verify/validate my figures. Then I will install and they will perform things that I do not have the specialized equipment for, such as flushing/purging the loop and making the fused connections to the loop polybutylene tubing.

Jim

 

[Teken]

Jim,

It would be greatly appreciated if you could document and take photo's of the whole process for all us.

I have never seen anyone on here document the whole start to finish of a geo thermal system. So it would be great if you could do this so all of us could pose questions and also learn from your personal experience(s).

Much Thanks

Teken . . .