Any comments about ground source heat pumps welcome as I am considering one and could do with some advice?

There are formulas to figure what size to use but I am also interested in what you learn. Can you forward any answers to me? ricky_reinertsen@yahoo.comAny comments about ground source heat pumps welcome as I am considering one and could do with some advice?
From the answers you have received so far, you must be somewhat confused. If you are contemplating the sort of investment necessary, it is worth spending a little time working it out properly. This is how I work out an initial budget cost before designing a system for a client, all assuming you live in the UK. First you need to know your heating load, both to determine your heat pump size and the rest of the heating/cooling equipment that it will be connected to. If you have not worked this out yet assume say 15kW output as a starting point for both the heat pump and comparable boiler. You can easily find the cost of the heat pump, accessories, length and cost of the ground source pipework, headers and water additives etc from the price lists published on the ';Kensa'; web site. From this information, you will know the length of trenches and ground area you will will require for the slinky underground coils. I have not mentioned a bore hole system at the moment because the cost of the bore holes will make your eyes water, but if you have insufficient land, you would have to go that route. From my experience it is cheaper to employ a company from France to carry out this work. The trenches are dug with a digger with narrow bucket 1.5 to 2 mtrs deep, so add the Contractors cost or hire cost of a digger for this work and running the pipework to the house.


You now have the total installation cost of a heat pump system. Now compare this with the cost of a boiler of the same duty. One further item to be taken into account for your overall installation cost. A heat pump will have a C.O.P of around 3.5 to 4, which means that every 1 kW of electrical power consumed will give you 3.5 to 4 kW of heating. for this however the heat pump will only be producing water at 50 C maximum, whereas a boiler will be quite happy to run at 80C. This means either much larger radiators for the heat pump or using underfloor heating or going for a warm air system, so this additional cost must be taken into consideration. Next to compare running costs. Assume a 30 week heating season times 7 days a week times say 18 hours per day, times your heating load times a weather factor of say 0.6. This will give the total kW per year. Multiply by the cost of your electricity per kW. Compare this with the cost you will pay for gas or oil per kW and divide this figure by the boiler efficiency say 0.8 (80% efficiency) The peak efficiency of a condensing boiler will be much higher, but this will give a fair comparison. Now you will see how many years it will take to pay back for your heat pump system assuming trouble free operation, but your final descision is likely to depend on how much you want to save the planet. (how much carbon dioxide and energy is consumed producing all that plastic pipework, running the digger etc) Domestic hot water production adds further complications which I will not go into unless requested.Any comments about ground source heat pumps welcome as I am considering one and could do with some advice?
i'll break it down into simple terms so you will easily understand it.


heat pumps are not worth the investment. simple.


they will cost you a fortune on electricity. you save on gas/oil bills but your electric will go through the roof.


reason being : the heat pump is not capable of heating your hot water to the suitable temperature. therefore the immersion will have to compensate and boost the water temperature to regular temperature. so your initial cost of fitting the actual system, plus your monthly or bi-monthly electricity bills (which will go much higher) are definitely not worth it. plus the maintanence costs are astronomical.


all in all, not worth it until the geothermal industry has ironed out the problems and until the heat pump system has been remodelled to work effectively and the price comes down.


hope this helps :)
It really depends on where you live. In Florida they are probably not the best choice. A conventional heat pump would be best.





If Maine or other northern locations, using the ground as you heat sink is very practical in that the heat pump can be used all winter.





The ground based systems are a bit more complicated but in general they have been around a while and if properly designed and installed will work just fine.





If I lived in a northern location and the only energy source was electricity, I would use a ground based system.
The American answers are as much use as a chocolate firegaurd, unless you are in America of course, try this link http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/homeown鈥?/a>
Not really
they cost allot but use much less energy than other methods of home temperature maintenance if you live in a very hot or very cold area. The tubing can be burried vertically ( like a well) or more horizontally (like a leach field); the local geology should be important in your decisions on how to construct





look for ';geothermal'; if googling
A closed loop ground source heat pump will cut your energy bills [ but , the weak part is the reversing value . It's malfunction can cause very high repair bill .]
unless you have a lot of money i would not recommend this. when everything is right this type of system is wonderful, but there are so many things that can go wrong. there are 1,000s of horror stories out there, especially if the well diggers are not very experienced with these systems, this is still evolving and if you have a lot of money to spend you can save a lot on your monthly electric bill, but beware.