Ground source heatpumps?

[wizzer]

Hi Guy's

You ladies and gents have far more knowledge than me and i'm wondering what on earth is a ground source heat pump system and what are the basics of such a system, i'm not sure but i think i heard someone say you use bore holes?

Any simple explanation much appreciated.
Wizzer

[US Iceman]

Hi wizzer,

A borehole is just a vertical hole in the ground. A pair of plastic pipes are inserted inside of this hole and then the hole is filled with grout.

In effect, each borehole becomes a heat exchanger for the heat pump. A water/glycol mixture is pumped through the pipes.

In air conditioning mode the heat pumps pulls heat from the house and pumps the heat out to the borehole. Since the ground is cooler than the borehole, the heat flows into the ground.

In heating mode, the heat pump pulls heat from the borehole (now the ground is warmer than the borehole). This heat is pumped into the house for heating.

If you do a search with the RE site, you will find a lot of information on these interesting systems.

[aeb200]

go to http://www.iceenergy.co.uk

for info on gshp
kensa engineering ( on google search are also quite good)

regards aeb200

[Larry2]

There is also some useful information at www.geokiss.com

[Peter_1]

Don't forget to mention also the systems where the copper heat exchangers are inserted direct in the ground, horizontal or vertical (boreholes): the so named DX systems. No need for glycol, no pumps and a better overal COP.

[milkybar33]

just been on a kensa coarse, very interesting, its a shame that they currently use R407c refrigerant and DOL compressor, but some times keeping it simple does have its advantages

[Entropie]

R407C isn´t to bad on a plate htx where the refrigerant distribution is correctly managed. Plate htx´s are real counter flow htx which can take an advantage out of the 407C temperature glide. I do agree with you that DOL is not state of the art, but as you said simple. I have seen recently a new domestic ground source heatpump from York which introduced digital scroll technology for better heat load matching. It worked perfectly, they can keep the hot water outlet water temperature within 0.1°C to the setpoint down to a minimum heating capacity of 10%.