Ground Loop System | Savings | Environment | Comfort | Incentives
How It Works
Throughout the year, almost 50% of the sun’s energy is absorbed into the earth where it maintains a constant temperature just a few feet below the ground’s surface. Geothermal technology takes advantage of this constant renewable energy source by combining a series of loops installed outside underground with a heat pump system inside that looks very similar to a conventional furnace. This combination of high performance technology allows us to tap into the earth’s natural heating and cooling properties to consistently and evenly distribute warm or cool air in your home or office throughout each season.
An environmentally-friendly antifreeze solution or pure water carries energy directly from the closed- or open-loop system into the heat pump inside your home or office. In the winter, the heat pump acts as a furnace, distributing the heat throughout your home using the system’s heat exchanger and compressor. In the summer, it acts as an air conditioner, collecting the heat from your home and distributing it into your domestic hot water tank or back into the earth through the loop system.
Not only can a geothermal system provide you with year-round indoor comfort, it can also provide inexpensive domestic hot water, supplementing or replacing your conventional domestic hot water heater.
It doesn’t matter whether you live in the country or in the city, there is a geothermal solution that will work for every building type and every climate condition.
Ground Loop System
When it comes to geothermal installation, no one knows more about how to do it well and do it right than GeoSmart’s Geothermal Specialists. Backed by extensive training, our Geothermal Specialists are skilled in selecting and installing the geothermal loop system best suited for your home or business regardless of the weather and soil conditions in your area.
Each loop system uses GeoSmart’s high-density PE100 green geothermal pipe, the most resilient geothermal pipe available on the market today. Once inserted in the ground, the pipe leads into the foundation of a building through a sleeve cemented into the wall and connects directly to your heat pump, bringing you years of worry-free, high-performance renewable heating and cooling using the earth as a natural energy source.
Horizontal Loops
Horizontal loops are the most common type of loop system, and are commonly used in rural areas due to the land space needed for installation. An excavator will dig several trenches about six feet deep in the ground, each one up to 300 feet long. Our green geothermal pipe is placed in the trenches which are then back-filled with soil.
Vertical Loops
Vertical loops are primarily used in urban areas because they require little land space for installation. A specially designed geothermal drilling rig bores vertical holes into the ground each ranging from 180 to 540 feet deep. Our green geothermal pipe is inserted into each vertical bore and then the holes are filled with bentonite grout.
Pond or Lake Loops
On properties that have a nearby lake or pond that is appropriate in size and eight feet deep, a loop system can be submerged at the bottom of the body of water. A single trench is excavated from the home to the water and typically two pipes are inserted into it. These two pipes connect to several green geothermal pipes that are submerged at the bottom of the lake or pond.
Open Loops
Open loops are most commonly used on rural properties that have existing high capacity water wells. Ground water is withdrawn from an aquifer through a supply well and pumped into the heat pump, while discharged water from the heat pump is redirected into a second well and back into the same aquifer.
Savings
Geothermal heat pumps can dramatically reduce your annual costs for heating, cooling and hot water by as much as 75% per year. No other furnace, air conditioner or heat pump comes close to that efficiency.
And they are cost-effective. Due to the amazing efficiency of a GeoSmart Energy system, the monthly energy savings realized by choosing our technology can often be enough to offset the investment associated with the installation the equipment. Want a detailed report? Your GeoSmart Energy dealer can use the GeoSmart Design Studio software program to estimate the heating and cooling costs for your home based on the calculated heat loss and heat gain, construction style and climate. Then you can compare it to your current energy costs to get an idea of how much money you can save.
A GeoSmart Energy system operates more efficiently than ordinary heating and air conditioning systems—30 to 70 percent more efficiently, in most cases. For every unit of electricity the system uses, it provides four units of heating energy, giving a geothermal system a 400 percent efficiency rating, on average. These numbers can translate into real savings on your utility bills year-round.
With continuous and dramatic volatility in the cost of fossil fuels like natural gas, propane and fuel oil, the savings possibilities are even greater in the future.
Environment
GeoSmart’s geothermal heat pumps are environmentally-friendly. In fact, installing a geothermal system in a typical home is the environmental equivalent of planting 750 trees—or taking two cars off the road. That’s because our systems don’t burn fossil fuels and they don’t emit carbon dioxide, which has been associated with climate change. Current geothermal system installations already save more than 14 million barrels of crude oil every year. In fact, geothermal systems have been recognized by the EPA and the Department of Energy as the most environmentally-friendly heating and cooling technology available today.
Unlike conventional furnace and air conditioning systems, geothermal does not require combustion to generate heat. This means zero risks to your family for carbon monoxide poisoning. It also cleans the air in your home using a high efficiency electrostatic air cleaner that filters out irritants like dust and pollen.
So you can take comfort in knowing that your GeoSmart geothermal system works in harmony with nature and with your family.
Comfort
Because a GeoSmart Energy system is connected directly to the relatively stable temperature provided by the earth, you’re assured of constant, even winter heating and better humidity control in the summer. Due to the unique and intelligent design of our heat pump systems, they quietly move a higher volume of air thorough the home than a conventional system. The overall result is a much more even temperature in every room of the house. Higher volume means that the comfort created by your new system will reach to the furthest ends of the house before the thermostat has been satisfied.
If you are building a new home and have decided on infloor heating or a combined infloor and forced air system, you will achieve the ultimate in space comfort. Our PremiumH hydronic system or the PremiumQ hybrid will deliver exactly what you need.
Looking for some more individualized comfort control? Simply add our Intellizone2 zoning system and now you can independently control the temperature in up to 4 different areas of the home.
Whatever system you choose, you will experience comfort like never before.
Incentives
Manitoba Geothermal Energy Incentive Program
http://www.gov.mb.ca/ia/energy/geothermal/incentives.html
Manitoba Hydro: Power Smart – Residential Earth Power Loan
https://www.hydro.mb.ca/your_home/geothermal_heat_pumps/loan.shtml