Geothermal Heat Pumps

First what is a heat pump? As you know your fridge is cool on the inside but there is warmth at the back of it. This warmth is the heat energy the fridge took out of the items you put into the fridge to cool down. Simply put a heat pump is just a fridge that tries to cool the outside environment and as a result it moves the heat into your home.

Geothermal Heat Pump Benefits

A geothermal heat pump typically costs 60% less to heat your house than an oil or gas boiler. The main benefit of a geothermal heat pump to a home owner is very high efficiency resulting in low heating costs for your house. Because most of the heat energy supplied to your house is free from nature, there is a very low carbon foot print which gives a better energy rating compared to ‘traditional’ fossil fuel based heating systems.

The main benefit to you is low running costs for your heating.

System Design

Here at Midland Renewables Heating & Plumbing we can design the geothermal heat pump system that best suits your property, your requirements and your life style. We will take into account all aspects such as available space, heat demand, ground conditions as well as other factors. As Midland Renewables Heating & Plumbing are not tied to any manufacturer or technology if a geothermal heat pump is not the best option for you, we won’t recommend it but if we do you can depend on Midland Renewables Heating & Plumbing to specify the best possible solution to give you an efficient low running cost heating system that is high in comfort. If a geothermal heat pump is the correct answer for your application, we offer brands such as Dimplex, Nibe, Worcester Bosch, Thermia among others. We will always design your system with a holistic approach in mind to look at all contributing factors of your building and demands.

Call us here at Midland Renewables Heating & Plumbing on 1890 90 45 45 to discuss your geothermal heat pump requirements.

Operating Principal

Geothermal heat pumps extract the heat energy to heat your house from the ground. This heat in the ground comes from the sun and rainfall passing into the ground, day after day so it is constantly recharged. The heat pump collects this energy through a series of pipes filled with antifreeze that is buried in the ground called the geothermal collector. This warmed up antifreeze mixture then circulates back to the heat pump where the extra heat it collected from the ground is extracted and ‘pumped up’ to a higher temperature by the compressor just like in your fridge. This heat is then passed to the water that circulates around through your radiators or under floor heating to heat your house or to your hot water tank to heat your shower and sink water. The temperature that the heat pump gets from the ground may only be 6 to 8 degrees but that heat can be pumped up to 55 or 60 degrees.

About three quarters of the heat energy the geothermal heat pump supplies to your home comes free from the ground, you are only paying for a quarter of the heat energy you put into your house.

Collector Types

There are two main types of geothermal heat pump collectors –horizontal and vertical. A horizontal geothermal heat pump collector consists of a series of plastic pipes in a loop buried in the ground at about 1 meter dept. The pipe absorbs heat from the ground up to a half meter from it. The energy in the ground is recharged by the sun and rain every day. A vertical geothermal heat pump collector – as the name suggest- is installed vertically in the ground. This is done by drilling a hole down into the ground much like a water well is drilled and the geothermal heat pump collector pipe is lowered into the hole. The geothermal heat pump vertical collector extracts heat energy from the bedrock in this case which is thermally recharged by the ground water that flows through the bed rock.

Both geothermal heat pump collector types have their place but the vertical collector is more expensive initially to install while it is more suited to sites where space is limited.

For more information please contact us in Midland Renewables Heating & Plumbing

or Telephone 1890 90 45 45.