water source HVAC -anyone know about this stuff?

[mrb]

Has anyone explored the pros and cons of using water source HVAC for larger garages and shops (and / or the house too)? These are common on larger buildings, but seems feasible for even 5 ton installs. There are some pretty neat looking 3-10 ton little cooling towers out there, and water source AC/heat pumps are pretty common as theyre used in hotels and large apartment buildings.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Google geothermal heat pump.

Forget the cooling tower, most homes and business with some land (schools for example) use the ground water (and therefore the constant temperature of the earth, about 55F) as their heat sink/source. Check Wikipedia. Skip down to the section titled "Closed loop". Sounds very high tech, but has been around for over 10-15 year (25, 30 ?) so it is well known technology (by those in the field).

Installation costs are high (one or more wells are required) but pay backs are good, especially if you have very high cooling costs.

 

[mrb]

industrial property where you cant drill a well would need cooling tower.