Lets talk about stars

Energy stars that is. Today I want to cover the topic of ENERGY STAR rating. This rating is given to products that meet guidelines and standards of efficiency that are set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In sense of Geothermal Heat System that means, choosing a system with the ENERGY STAR rating you can save over 45% percent of energy and in that sense you also save money on utility costs and reduce carbon pollution.

I suggest you to check the Federal Tax Credits on this site, because you can be eligble for up to 30% federal tax credit if you decice to instal GHT with  ENERGY STAR rating.

Mike

PEN-LOOP System

Today I want to talk to you about last type of Geothermal Heat Pump System that I didn't talk about in my last post (click to see). I'm talking about Pen-loop system that uses well or surface body water as the heat exchange liquid that courses goes through the GHP System. When it has flowed through the System, the water comes back to the ground through the well, a recharge well, or surface release. This alternative is clearly useful just where there is a sufficient supply of generally clean water, and all local regulation is met with respect to groundwater release.

I should also mention the Hybrid systems that uses different geothermal solution, or a combination of a geothermal resource with outdoor air (i.e., a cooling tower), are another technology option. This options is very effective in areas where need more coolling rather than heating. Where geology permits us, the "standing column well" is another solution. In this variation of an open-loop system, one or more deep vertical wells is drilled. Water is drawn from the bottom of a standing column and returned to the top.

At the times of  times of peak heating and cooling, the system can drain a segment of the return water as opposed to reinjecting it all, bringing on water inflow to the section from the surrounding aquifer. The drain cycle cools the section during heat rejection, heats it amid heat extraction, and reduces the required bore depth.

Mike

Different types of Geothermal Heat Pump Systems

We use four diferent types of loop systems this days. We know three closed loop system: horizontal, vertical and lake/pond loops. Most closed-loop geothermal heat pumps circulate an antifreeze liquid through a closed loop - made of plastic materials- that is buried in the soil or submerged in water. A exchanger of heat transfers heat between the refrigerant in the heat pump and the antifreeze liquid in the closed loop.

Last loop is called open loop. Depending on the soil, climate, avaliable land, soil quality, and lastly installation costs we choose the most apropriate. All four loops can ben used for private or bussiness bulldings.

Today I will try to talk about first three closed loop system.

HORIZONTAL

This sort of solution is by large most cost-friendly for residents, especially for new development where adequate land area is accessible. . It requires trenches no less than four feet deep. The most well-known solutions either utilize two pipes, one at six feet, and the other at four feet, or two pipes put next to each other at five feet in the ground in a two-foot wide trench.

VERTICAL

Big business buildings frequently use vertical systems because the required area of land needed for horizontal loops would be prohibitive. Vertical loops are also utilized where the soil is excessively to shallow for trenching, and they minimize the influence to existing land. Vertical system needs four  holes that are four inches in diameter and are drilled 20 feet apart and 100 to 400 feet deep. Into these openings go two pipes that are associated at the base with a U-twist to shape a loop. The vertical loops are connected with horizontal  pipe, put in trenches, and joined with the Heat pump in the building.

POND/LAKE

If great luck strikes you and the site has a sufficient water, this may be the most inexpensive alternative. A supply line pipe is run underground from the building to the water and looped into circles no less than eight feet under the surface to prevent winter freezing. The loops ought to just be set in a water source that meets minimum volume, depth, and quality criteria.

Mike

Assessing your home for Geothermal Heat Pump

Shallow ground temperatures are more or less steady all through the United States, so Geothermal Heat Pumps (GHPs) can be adequately utilized anyplace. Be that as it may, the particular geographical, hydrological, and spatial qualities of your territory will help your nearby framework supplier/installer focus the best sort of ground loop for your site.

GEOGRAPHY

Key elements, for example, the properties of your soil and rock (which can influence warmth exchange rates) must come into consideration when planning a ground loop. For instance, soil with great warmth exchange properties needs less funneling to accumulate a certain measure of warmth than soil with poor warmth exchange properties. The measure of accessible soil adds to suppliers plan also - suppliers in regions with hard rock soil or soil to shallow to trench, may introduce vertical ground loop rather than horizontal loop.

HYDROLOGY

Ground or surface water accessibility likewise has impact in choosing what sort of ground loop to utilize. Contingent upon components, for example, profundity, volume, and water quality, assemblages of surface water can be utilized as a wellspring of water for an open-loop framework, or as an archive for curls of channeling in a shut circle framework. Ground water can likewise be utilized as a hotspot for open-circle frameworks, if the water quality is suitable and all ground water release regulations are met.

Before you buy an open-circle framework, make certain your framework supplier/installer has completely researched your site's hydrology, so you can maintain a distance from potential issues, for example, aquifer depletion and groundwater contamination. Antifreeze liquid that circulates through loop system generally pose no hazard to the invironment.

LAND AVAILABILITY

The sum and layout of your land, you're arranging, and the area of underground utilities or sprinkler systems additionally add to your system plan. Even ground circles (by and large the most efficient) are normally utilized for recently developed structures with adequate land area. Vertical loops or more conservative flat "Slinky™" loops are regularly utilized for existing structures in light of the fact that they minimize the unsettling influence to the landscape.

Mike

Benefits of Geothermal Heat Pump System

There are lots of benefists of using  GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMP SYSTEMS (GHPs) but the biggest one is lower energy consuption as they use 25% do 50% less electricity than conventional heating or cooling systems. This means that GHP use one unit of eletricity to move three units of heat from earth. US Environmental Protection Agency says that geothermal heat pumps reduce energy consumption and emissions up to 44% compared with air-source heat pumps and up to 75% compared with standard air-conditioning equipment. GHPs are also effective in humid areas as they improve humidity control by maintaining about 50% relative indoor humidity.

When installing GHP you can have greater flexibility as they can be installed in new an retrofit situations. The system requires less space and rooms can be greatly scaled down, freeing space for other uses. Because of few moving parts the systems are very reliable and durable. Underground components (loop or piping) often carry warranties up to 60 years and the heat pumps last up to 20 or more years.

GHPs have no outside condensing units like air conditioners, so there's no concern about noise outside the home. A two-speed GHP system is so quiet inside a house that users usually do not know it is operating.

I hope you you will find this informations usefull when looking into depths of heothermal heat pump systems.

Mike.

Geothermal heat pumps

Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) also referred to as GeoExchange, ground-source or water-source heat pumps, have been in use for oveer 70 years. They work on the principle of using constant earth temperature as the medium for the exchange. With this system they reach efficiencies as high as 600% on the cold winter days as compared to 250% maximum efficency for air-source heat pumps.

Biggest parts of United States throughout the year experience scorching heat to sub-zero cold, but below the earth's surface the temperature remains constant. Like a cave, this ground temperature is warmer than the air above it during the winter and cooler than the air in the summer. The GHP takes advantage of this by exchanging heat with the earth through a ground heat exchanger.

As with any heat pump, geothermal and water-source heat pumps are able to cool, heat and also supply the house with hot water (if heat pump system includes this option). Some models of geothermal systems are available with two-speed compressors and variable fans for saving even more energy. Relative to air-source heat pumps, they don't need a lot of maintenance, are quiet and last longer.

 A dual-source heat pump combines an air-source heat pump with a geothermal heat pump. These appliances combine the best of both systems. Dual-source heat pumps have higher efficiency ratings than air-source units, but are not as efficient as geothermal units. The main advantage of dual-source systems is that they cost much less to install than a single geothermal unit, and work almost as well.

Even though the price of a geothermal system can be higher than that of an air-source system, the costs are returned to you in terms of energy savings in 5 to 10 years. System life is estimated at 30 years for the inside components and 50+ years for the ground components (loop). There are approximately 100,000 geothermal heat pumps installed in the United States each year. For more information, so think carefully when deciding what is the best option for your heating and cooling system.

Mike.

Reversing Valve

The heat pump reversing valve is the only difference between the heat pump and standard air conditioner. Previously we have talked about how a heat pump works. We concluded it works just like an air conditioner, moving heat from one place to another.  But the heat pump reversing valve  allows us to move the heat from inside the house to the outdoors (cooling mode) or to reverse the cycle and remove the heat from outside the house to the indoors (heating mode).

But how does it really work? And what does it look like? That’s what we are about to discover in this section.

First let’s see what a heat pump reversing valve looks like. In the figure below, you will notice the valve has 4 tubes or connections; A, B, C, D. This valve is also referred to as a 4-way valve.

A heat pump reversing valve is an electro-mechanical 4-way valve that reverses the refrigerant (Freon) flow direction, using an electrical magnet.  It works very similar to your washer’s water valve or solenoid valve (pictured below). When you connect electricity to a valve (energize it), it opens and lets water in and when you disconnect the electricity (de-energize it), it closes the valve and the water stops flowing.

When you energize the coil with electricity (in the USA, washer’s water valve use 110VAC, and in most other countries, they use 220VAC) the coil becomes magnetized, pulling a pin and compressing the spring. This action opens the valve to let the water flow. When you de-energize the coil the electrical magnet loses its magnetic power, and the compressed spring expands and pushes the pin back to shut off the water.

The washer’s water valve (solenoid valve) is 2-way valve, and in the Heat Pump, the reversing valve is 4-way valve. Let’s look at the image below so we can understand it better.

Energized mode, cooling mode

The heat pump reversing valve has 4 large tubes (A, B, C, D ) that’s why they call it a 4 way valve and it also has:- capillary tube (1), capillary tube (2), capillary tube (3), slider (4), block (5) ,electrical coil (6), electrical magnet (7), and spring (8).

Notice that the compressor’s discharge port (high pressure) is always connected to tube A in the reversing valve and the return port (low pressure) in the compressor is always connected to tube B. Therefore tube A always has higher pressure refrigerant, and tube B always has lower pressure refrigerant. Notice also that capillary (2) is always connected to tube A, thus capillary (2) also has a high pressure.

When we energize the electrical coil (6) it energizes the magnet (7) that pulls the block (5) which will blocks the capillary tube (3) and compresses the spring (8). Wow if that was confusing, well if it was, please read it one more time.

Got it? Great, so notice that the capillary tube (3) is now blocked, and the high pressure refrigerant will flow from capillary (2) to capillary (1 ) straight to the left side of theheat pump  reversing valve’s body that will push the slider to right hand side from the valve’s body which will allow the high pressure refrigerant to go from the tube A to tube D to the outdoor coil, through the metering device to drop its pressure, then to the indoor coil to cool the inside of the house ( cooling mode ) then back to tube C .

If you had notice the slider has a top grove which allows the low pressure refrigerant to flow from tube C to tube B then back to the return port in the compressor to repeat the cycle again.

That was easy wasn't it? Now let’s see what happens in heating mode in the figure below.

De-energized mode, heating mode

Please notice that the coil (6) lost its power, or de-energized, which makes the electrical magnet (7) lose its magnetic power.  When this occurs, the spring (8) will decompress and push the block (5) to the left, and block the capillary tube (1). I am thinking you are becoming an expert by now!

The capillary tube (1) is now blocked and the high pressure refrigerant will flow from capillary (2) to capillary (3) straight to the right side from the reversing valve’s body. This in turn will push the slider to the left hand side of the valve’s body,which will allow the high pressure refrigerant to go from the tube A to tube C. This allows refrigerant to flow to the indoor coil to heat the inside of the house (heating mode),  then through the metering device to drop its pressure then to the outdoor coil then back to tube D.

Again the slider has a top grove this will allow the low pressure refrigerant to flow from tube D to tube B then back to the return port in the compressor to repeat the cycle again. That’s it that’s how the heat pump reversing valve works in real-life.

We should notice some important stuff:

When we energize the reversing valve we start the cooling mode, and when we de-energize it, we start the heating mode. Is this always the case or can it be the other way around? Yes of course it can. However, in almost all Heat Pumps, the cooling mode starts when we energize the reversing valve, so if the electrical coil fails (and it cannot energize the reversing valve anymore) you will be able to have a heating function and you won’t freeze your butt off.     

All reversing valves use 24VAC to energize, unlike a washer’s water valve which uses either 110VAC or 220VAC.      

Reversing valves use the difference between high and low pressure refrigerant to work, the compressor should be working in order for the reversing valve to work properly.      

99% of the reversing valve failures are due to bad or faulty electrical coil and not because the valve itself has failed. So the next time an air conditioning service man tells you that you need to change the reversing valve, chances are he doesn't know what he is talking about or he want to rip you off. .     

Replacing the reversing valve could be a complicated process. It needs a very skilled person, because the reversing valve will be soldered, which can easily overheat the reversing valve’s body, and in turn melt the slider inside it, making it inoperable.     

if you really need to replace your valve, and your unit is over 10 years of age, please consider replacing the Heat Pump.     

The heat pump reversing valve itself might cost $300-$380 however, it will take a lot of work ,1st the technician must recover all the refrigerant (Freon) in the approved and certified container , if he lets it out to the air or like a lot of them do into a bucket of water that’s violation to the law (it could cost him $12,000 if you report him) , after he needs to take out the electrical coil then takes out the old reversing valve and buts the new one in and soldered it carefully, then vacuum the system and make sure there is no leaks , then charges it back with refrigerant (Freon). All that will take time and effort but it should not exceed than $1100 and as always if you end up doing any repair work only deal with people charge by labor and material and not lump sum.

Well that’s it folks I hope you have a better understanding of the heat pump reversing valve. As always the more you know the less likely you are to get ripped off! 

Mike

What is a Heat Pump?

So lets start with the basics. A heat pump is an electrical driven device that extracts heat from one place and transfers it to another. The heat pump is not a new invention...it has been used around the world for many years. Examples of this tehnology are air conditions and refrigerators.

Heat pumps transfer heat by circulating a substance called a refrigerant through a cycle of evaporation and condensation. A compressor pumps the refrigerant between two heat exchanger coils. In one coil, the refrigerant is evaporated at low pressure and absorbs heat from its surroundings. The refrigerant is then compressed en route to the other coil, where it condenses at high pressure. At this point, it releases the heat it absorbed earlier in the cycle.

Refrigerators and air conditioners are both examples of heat pumps operating only in the cooling mode

The heat pump cycle is fully reversible, and heat pumps can provide year-round climate control for your home – heating in winter and cooling and dehumidifying in summer. Since the ground and air outside always contain some heat, a heat pump can supply heat to a house even on cold winter days. In fact, air at –18°C contains about 85 percent of the heat it contained at 21°C.

An air-source heat pump absorbs heat from the outdoor air in winter and rejects heat into outdoor air in summer. It is the most common type of heat pump found in Canadian homes at this time. However, ground-source (also called earth-energy, geothermal, geoexchange) heat pumps, which draw heat from the ground or ground water, are becoming more widely used.


Mike

introduction

First let me introduce myself. My name is Mike and I am a engineer of mehanics and a proud father of two daugthers. My work in the HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) industry for the past 25 years of my life provided me with first hand experiece with heat pump solutions and a profound knowledge with heat pump.

In my line of work as a engineer I have had to deal with a lot of technicians and other professionals who gave me an inside look at Heat Pump Systems. I even got myself the courage to install my own Heat Pump system and latter when my relatives and neighbours found out I even became some what of an local expert on this issue.

About a year ago, I received a phone call from my aunt asking me to help her to choose the right contractor to replace his Heat-Pump system. She asked me to attend with her a couple estimate appointments. So I did, and let me tell you I was suprised.

The so called Experts gave some estimates betwen 15 and 20 grand if I remember corectly. Despite these huge estimates the information my Aunt got was all wrong. The contractor’s aim was only to squeeze as much money as possible from my Aunt. And of course my Aunt didn’t know anything about Heat pump systems, so it would have been a disaster if I didn't took over and I was able to help my Aunt to install her Heat pump system for a normal price that she could aford.

But I decided to investigate further what is really happing on the Heat pump market and I was surprised. Lots of people get scammed by bad contractors, and give out so much of wrong information, and the customer really doesn’t know any better- after all that’s not his area of expertise.

There are a lot of good contractors out there, but finding them tough. That’s when I decided I could help people like my Aunt. My plan is to build a website that has all the information that a person has to have to know about air conditioning and heating.

First I will try to explain what exactly is a Heat Pump and how does it work. Later on I will describe geothermal heat pump and how you could save lots of money if you pay attention to the advices given on this website.

I hope the given information on this blog can help you to firstly decide which is the best heat pump for you and secondly save money from inital investment and later in therms of money saved from energy billls.

Mike.