# Geo Thermal



## Southern Gypsy (Nov 19, 2014)

Picked up a Geo Thermal Heating/Cooling unit for $500. Unit was a fortune new, people that sold it, had a heat pump installed. South Carolina has 68 Degrees F. Temp year round at 40 inches deep. I'm holding onto this unit until we decide if we are staying in SC for good or moving west (TX, NM, AZ, OK). I can get this puppy to run on a small, low flow water pump and a low voltage blower with 900 feet of 2 inch pipe. This will be a fun project


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Come on down to AZ, the temp down here is 110 degrees at no inches during the summer. During the winter, it goes down to 108 degrees.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

There is some yups building fancy houses with those things installed around here. Sounds like a good plan to me. Pretty sure they went a lot deeper than 40 inches. Looked like a water well when they were drilling the hole.


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## Southern Gypsy (Nov 19, 2014)

I've been curious about Geo Thermal for about 15-20 years now. There are several different types of install. Most are BS and a money pit. Here is a brief rundown.

1) Single well injection (I.E.Pump and Dump). This is what the folks that had the unit that I picked up had. It pumps water out of a well, through your system, then dumps the water into your back yard. 
Pros: None that I know of.
Cons: 220 Volt well running 24/7/365. The guy said his electric bill was $700+ per month, and showed me the bill for the last 3 months. Also, your back yard is now a swamp. The super genius that invented this should be smacked.

2) Double well injection. Same as number 1, but instead of dumping water into your back yard, it goes back into a secondary well.
Pros: ZERO
Cons: Same as above, but you get the Joyful expense of having a second well dug. Really? Really??

3) Multi-Injection System. Same as number 2 but with a bunch of mini-wells. Pure insanity in my honest opinion. 

4) Closed Loop, Low Flow System. Finally something that makes some sense!!
You drop around 900 feet of 2 inch black pipe at least 40 inches deep. Then connect to a small water pump and you are set. There is no pumping and dumping or any of that nonsense. The water that is used, circulates within the loop. You need at least 900 feet buried 40 inches to dissipate the heat gathered in the unit. 
Pros: Can be run on 12 volt water pump and 110 volt blower (already installed). 
Efficient. Extremely efficient. Fill the 900 feet of pipe with water one time, prime the pump, and you are ready to go.
Cons: You need land. Many in subdivisions, do not have enough land to lay out 900 feet of pipe, usually 450 feet out and then 450 feet back, spaced 8 feet apart. 1/4 acre, 1/2 or 1 acre just won't cut it. 

If you see one being put in and they are digging wells, someone just got taken advantage of. This is being sold as part of the GREEN Movement, some of which can make sense with some tweaking, some of which is just crazy. 
2 wells + $700 a month electric bill is my definition of insanity. 
I could be wrong tho, but I doubt it LOL.:lol:


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## Southern Gypsy (Nov 19, 2014)

Closed Loop System.


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## bigwheel (Sep 22, 2014)

Ok..thanks for the scoop on that.


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## zeeshan (Jan 4, 2015)

Hey all,

My brother in law set up my sump pump to work on electric, but if the power goes out im screwed...A ny suggestions what I can do to back it up ( battery) in the house?


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## rjd25 (Nov 27, 2014)

Southern Gypsy said:


> I've been curious about Geo Thermal for about 15-20 years now. There are several different types of install. Most are BS and a money pit. Here is a brief rundown.
> 
> 1) Single well injection (I.E.Pump and Dump). This is what the folks that had the unit that I picked up had. It pumps water out of a well, through your system, then dumps the water into your back yard.
> Pros: None that I know of.
> ...


I am not sure where you are getting your information or numbers from. I live in the NorthEast and we have the highest electric rates in the country. I put in a brand new geothermal system when I built my house. It was a closed loop system with a horizontal ground loop. There were no wells drilled. If you have enough land and there are no wetland issues you can do a horizontal loop. If your space is limited you will have to do a vertical system. The geothermal compressor was a 5 ton unit and cost approx 8,000$ to have installed which is comparable to an oil furnace. I also got back 4,500$ between state and federal tax incentives so the actual cost was lower. As far as electric bills mine was a steady 250$ a month for my electric, heat, and AC in the summer. Never had to worry about Carbon monoxide and never had to pay the oil man.

The only downside I ever saw was during a power outage, the power required to start the compressor from initial power on was too much for a portable generator to handle.


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