From Guest Blogger Heather Roberts: Geothermal Heat Pump Tips and Guidelines

Geothermal pumps can be of great help when you need to save up some money on your utilities and heating. The greatest thing is that they are essentially in balance with the natural world around you. A geothermal system however costs quite a bit to install and may prove to be too expensive in most cases, but it will be an excellent long-term solution to your heating and energy needs if you can afford it.

• Way of Operation
Much like your fridge works by removing heat from the interior and transferring it outside. Geothermal pumps work in much the same principle, but they instead transfer heat from the ground and into your home or vice versa. This will work by using long loops of pipes buried underground and filled with a liquid, such as antifreeze or water. These loops are hooked up to the geothermal heat pump in your home, which in turn acts as both an air conditioner and furnace. When the heating season comes around, you will use the liquid to pull heat from the ground, which in turn gets transferred to the geothermal unit and then to the refrigerant coils where it becomes distributed around the house through a hydronic or forced air system. When the cooling season comes around the reverse comes into effect to leech heat from the house and into the ground. In many cases this system can be used to also heat water up for domestic purposes. The greatest thing about this system is that it uses no fuel to create such heat, only moves heat from one place to another, which means far less energy required to keep your home at a steady temperature.

• Drawbacks
There is no way to go about this than to state it bluntly: the system will be expensive. It will likely cost somewhere between $10000-30000, depending on the plot size, configuration and nature of your soil as well as the accessibility of your site and how much work is needed. It will likely need ductwork modifications to get it working as well as some pretty serious digging. In all cases, even a brand new home the system will likely be at least 40% more expensive than a regular HVAC system. Recouping these costs will take a pretty long time, a minimum of four and up to fifteen years and more, depending on the rates of utilities and the installation costs.

• Benefits
The lower operating costs of the system more than make up for its price, as a geothermal heat pump will end up saving up to 60% of your heating and up to 50% of your cooling costs compared to conventional solutions. It will use clean and renewable energy to do what it does, with no chance of combustion, no emissions of greenhouse gases or any other dangers you’d see from other systems. The only bad part about it is that it still uses electricity. This can also be negated through the use of a solar power system, assuming you can afford both to stay green. It also happens to be pretty quiet, requiring less maintenance and possessing a longer life than other systems due to less moving parts and the protection of the soil for its underground loops.

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