There are four different varieties of geothermal heat pumps offered currently.
Each individual one has a different process of connecting to the heating distribution method in your home or creating. Some varieties are a lot more effective than other folks at offering area conditioning to the creating, but that is a home of the distribution.
All of these GSHP varieties however get their vitality from the ground loop, which transfers the absorbed heat into the inside refrigerant loop. It’s what happens to the heat following that is what will make the variation in between varieties.
The 4 different varieties of geothermal heat pumps are drinking water to air, drinking water to drinking water, combo and break up heat pumps.
Water to Air
The initially and possibly most utilized geothermal heat pump is the drinking water to air heat pump. This heat pump is utilized for residences with pressured air systems, and basically replaces a common furnace. The ground loop provides in absorbed heat to the refrigerant loop (the drinking water part of “drinking water to air”). That refrigerant is then compressed and cycled in front of a fan coil unit to be sent as a result of duct do the job distribution to the property (the air part of “drinking water to air”. This procedure can also be switched in reverse to present cooling to a framework.
Just one achievable style and design problem is the sizing of the ductwork. For the reason that geothermal systems are regarded a very low temp heat resource, a greater volume of air is needed to produce the exact heating or cooling load. This will both have to have bigger ductwork to accommodate for the bigger air volume, or a specialized, little-duct, substantial-velocity pressured air method like Unico or SpacePak.
Water to Water
The 2nd style is a drinking water to drinking water, or hydronic. This style features the exact as all other heat pumps on the ground loop side of the refrigerant, but as an alternative of sending the compressed and heated refrigerant to a fan coil, it is transferred straight into yet another drinking water loop that circulates as a result of the heat pump, and into the drinking water-based distribution. This hydronic distribution is most typically radiant heat (Radiant and Geothermal Write-up), but it can also be utilized in conjunction with a domestic very hot drinking water or a outside the house snow soften method.
Combo
The 3rd style of heat pump is a combo unit. This brings together the earlier two varieties, delivering both of those pressured air and hydronic distribution. This is excellent in residences or structures in which both of those varieties of distribution are current. Some zones may perhaps be substantial heat loss, these as rooms with massive windows, or in the vicinity of an exit door, and will have to have a lot more heat in the area than just radiant or just pressured air could present by itself. This is in which a combo unit that can take care of both of those could come in extremely helpful.
Split
The past style on the sector is identified as a break up unit. This style is basically the exact as a regular geothermal heat pump on the drinking water side, but it sends the refrigerant in a extensive loop to a remote air handler. This will make it less complicated in bigger jobs to keep the heat pump in a mechanical place with all the loop subject and flow center connections, and however have an air handler offering heat to a remote locale, these as the 2nd tale of a significant property. This will allow for bigger overall flexibility in the overall style and design of the heating method.