Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs ) are the next step in an earth friendly technology that can save homeowners money. Geothermal heating and cooling uses the relatively constant temperature of the earth to heat and cool homes and businesses. While conventional furnaces and boilers burn a fuel to generate heat, geothermal heat pumps use electricity to simply move heat from the earth into buildings, allowing much higher efficiencies.The most efficient fuel-burning heatercan reach efficiencies aroun

d 95%,but a geothermal heat pump can move up to 4 units of heat for every unit of electricity needed to power the system, resulting in a practical equivalence of over 400% efficiency.A geothermal heat pump system is made of indoor heat pump equipment, a ground loop of piping, and a flow center to connect the indoor and outdoor equipment.The heat pump equipment works like a reversible refrigerator by removing heat from one location and depositing it in another location. The ground loop, which is invisible after installation, allows the exchange of heat between the earth and the heat pump.

In the cooling mode, the hot refrigerant (well over 100 degrees F) exiting ETA’s compressor is sent directly into the approximate 50 to 60 degree F range deep earth, which now absorbs and takes the heat away. The cooled refrigerant fluid is then circulated through the air handler where it absorbs and removes unwanted heat from the interior air. The heated refrigerant travels to the ETA system’s compressor unit where the process is repeated. Thus, in the cooling mode, the ground removes your heat for free.

In the heating mode, approximate 50 to 60 degree F range naturally occurring heat from deep within the earth travels to, and is absorbed by, a much colder refrigerant fluid that is circulated within the copper tubing inside a deep well/borehole. Such naturally occurring heat is transported by the refrigerant fluid to the system’s compressor where the fluid is compressed, thereby raising its pressure and temperature, transforming the 55 degree F temperature into a temperature well over 100 degrees F. The hot refrigerant is then circulated through the finned tubing within an air handler, where the cold return interior air absorbs the heat. The heated air is supplied, via a fan, to the interior air space. With the heat now removed from the refrigerant fluid, it becomes very cold and is re-circulated into the ground to absorb more naturally occurring and renewable heat. Thus, the ground supplies your heat for free.

Utilizing the ETA geothermal system’s optional Hot Water Pre-Heater (HWPH), the system can also produce virtually free hot water. Capturing excess heat in the refrigerant, this module can typically provide about 50% of the total hot water needs for an average home or business. Additionally, the ETA system can be designed to solely provide heat for low-cost hot water generation for hot tubs, swimming pools, or for in-floor hydronic heating purposes. Source: (www.earthtoair.com) (www.toolbase.org)

How Geothermal System Work