Ground source heat pumps use a buried ground loop which transfers heat from the ground into a building to provide space heating and, in some cases, to pre-heat domestic hot water. The system does not require any external fuel and is designed to heat a whole building. The system uses a heat pump to move heat energy from one place to another, working just like a refrigerator.
The Earth has the ability to absorb and store heat energy.
To use that stored energy, heat is transferred using either groundwater or a non-freezing solution. The fluid is pumped through the special plastic pipes to the heat pump, where the energy is used to heat your home. The system can keep your home warm, even at temperatures below zero, without a backup heating system.
The source for savings.
A ground source system is an excellent source for energy-saving, cost-cutting heating system. The systems efficiency is more than three times that of a fossil fuel furnace. Rather than burning fuel to produce heat, a ground source system simply transfers the Earth’s constant temperature to heat your home.
As a result, it provides three Euros of energy for every one used to power the ground source system.
- Heating Efficiency Comparison Chart
- Ground source heat pump 350%
- Air source heat pump 200%
- Electric furnace, ceiling cable, baseboard 100%
- Natural LP/Gas furnace 60-95%
- Wood Stove 45%
There are three important elements to a ground source heat pump:
1. The ground loop
This is comprised of lengths of pipe buried in the ground, either in a borehole or a horizontal trench.
The pipe is usually a closed circuit and is filled with a mixture of water and antifreeze, which is pumped
around the pipe absorbing heat from the ground.
The ground loop can be:
- Vertical, for use in boreholes
- Horizontal, for use in trenches
- Spiral, coil or ‘slinky’, also for use in trenches
2. A heat pump
In the same way that your fridge uses refrigerant to extract heat from the inside, keeping your food cool, a ground source heat pump extracts heat from the ground, and uses it to heat your home.
A ground source heat pump has three main parts:
The evaporator, (e.g. the squiggly thing in the cold part of your fridge) absorbs the heat using
the liquid in the ground loop; The compressor, (this is what makes the noise in a fridge) moves the refrigerant round the heat pump and compresses the gaseous refrigerant to the temperature needed for the heat distribution circuit; The condenser, (the hot part at the back of your fridge) gives up heat to a hot water tank which feeds the distribution system.
3. Heat distribution system
This consists of under floor heating or radiators for space heating and in some cases water storage for hot water supply.
Three types of Heat Pumps
There are three main types of heat pump available on the market, those that take heat from the ground or Ground Heat Pumps , from water (rivers or wells) or directly from the air.
Thanks the Techstore Team