Geothermal Heating

randombar

Hi Lads,

I'm starting a build next year hopefully and thinking of installing this in my parents house as well as my brothers house (25 years and 5 years old respectively) big fan of them because of sweden.

I was just wondering what people's experience with these systems are? costs and so on? would probably go for the fertical system more than the horizontal system but my uncle was saying they are now doing a coiled horizontal system?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Gary

finbarrk

There doesn't seem to be too many people on here with the geothermal system. I was hoping for some advice myself.

AckwelFoley

Hey.

I work in this area of renewable and sustainable energies.

First things first is to have your house upgraded insulation wise.

Geothermal heat pumps compress the heat energy in the ground and distribute it within the tank in tank system in your home. It works best with underfloor heating

The principal of the system is that it keeps the house at a constant temp all the time.. you dont ever turn it off and on like oil, this would cause you high electrical bills due to it needing to re heat the home, when the home is heated if the house is insulated properly , you lose less heat therefore not needing to generate more heat to replace the lost heat. The compressor in the system uses a 3kw motor which is the equivelant to an electric oil filled rad that you see in homes.

There are generally no running costs over and above the electrical bill.

Contrary to speculation they are not hard on electricity, if it is.. its because the house is not insulated properly.. you're losing heat and the system is running all the time to replace lost heat.

I'l post more on costs later.. i gotta go

randombar

Hi Snyper,

Thanks for that, I guess since the house isnt built yet it would be insulated well enough when it is built, the other house was only built five years ago so the insulation would be pretty good in it too. I guess I'm wondering about costs and pros and cons of each system?

thanks
Gary

yop

We have a DX geothermal system in now for 2 years, installed in a timber frame house which is highly insulated.
Our running costs average 16 euro per week for the electricity for the WHOLE house.

We are extremely happy with ours, but I do think that insulation plays a major role also in this.
Also our UFH loops are tighter than normal, therefore reducing the temperature in the pipes and also given wider coverage.

Good luck.

randombar

yop wrote: »

We have a DX geothermal system in now for 2 years, installed in a timber frame house which is highly insulated.
Our running costs average 16 euro per week for the electricity for the WHOLE house.

We are extremely happy with ours, but I do think that insulation plays a major role also in this.
Also our UFH loops are tighter than normal, therefore reducing the temperature in the pipes and also given wider coverage.

Good luck.

Hi,
Sorry for the ignorance but what are UFH loops?
Also is it vertical geothermal? horizontal or the new looped system?
Costs?
Thanks
Gary

yop

Sorry lad, Under Floor Heating (UFH)

Horizontal loops. What is the new looped system? I have not seen it mentioned anywhere.

12300 euro for the Geothermal.
4300 for the UFH.

Hous is 2095 sq feet.

randombar

yop wrote: »

Sorry lad, Under Floor Heating (UFH)

Horizontal loops. What is the new looped system? I have not seen it mentioned anywhere.

12300 euro for the Geothermal.
4300 for the UFH.

Hous is 2095 sq feet.

Ouch that's expensive. I think though they're all about that price.

Horizontal loops - I've heard something recently where they coil the heat exchange pipes, basically using the same length pipes but ahving them coiled so as not to take up too much space?

Is this what you have? I suppose the negative aspect for me would be having the pipes strecthing for meters under the ground and god knows where I might put a garage later on???

thanks
Gary

yop

that is a concern for sure with us, we have near 1 acre of ground so that helps.

We have the "standard" looping for the Geo. That price is very good compared to what it is now, they have 1/2 the grants too!!

randombar

yop wrote: »

that is a concern for sure with us, we have near 1 acre of ground so that helps.

We have the "standard" looping for the Geo. That price is very good compared to what it is now, they have 1/2 the grants too!!

Ya I've a bit of land at the back too, how far do the pipes stretch? how far from the house do they start? Are roots of trees a concern?

sas

GaryCocs wrote: »

Ya I've a bit of land at the back too, how far do the pipes stretch? how far from the house do they start? Are roots of trees a concern?

The pipes in the collector area depend on the size of house, level of insulation (and airtightness) and the type of heatpump. There is no one rule fits all. Any supplier that works out the collector area size based on the square footage of your house should be avoided.

Yops price is very good. I've been priced in the region of 25 - 30k for a 3700 sq ft house with a very high spec of insulation (well beyond the incoming regs.) and airtightness. This didn't include the groundworks either.

randombar

So basically when building get the house insulated up to the last!

yop

GaryCocs wrote: »

So basically when building get the house insulated up to the last!

Without a single doubt, I think that you could run the house on passive heating if you have the house insulated right.