Geothermal Heat Pumps
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Heat Pump: Key To Your Heating And Air Conditioning
A heat pump is simply an air conditioner that contains a valve allowing it to let you decide whether you want heat or cool air to circulate throughout your home. The heat pump valve can be adjusted based on your specific needs - providing you with a cool breeze or reversing its flow of Freon, located in the air conditioning refrigerant, and delivering a toasty feel to the room. The heat pump is an electric component that has come a long way from the proprietary gas furnace.
Most people are at least familiar with heat pumps and how it can be a cost-effective way to provide the very best in central air conditioning . Depending on your climate and your heating and air conditioning needs, choosing an advanced heat pump system can range anywhere from $2,000 up to a top-of-the-line, more popular brand that is around $8,000. Some of the best heat pumps can be very expensive but are very quiet and are sure to give you more "bang for your buck."
Maintaining your heat pump system so it can last you years, comes from taking care of the entire air conditioning system and air conditioning parts . Cleaning the air conditioning air filter at least once a month properly doing an annual air conditioning inspection with a creditable air conditioning company , and simply paying attention to the heat pump thermostat are all ways to make your heat pump air conditioner last.
If you are shopping around for a new heat pump thermostat , look for one that has a variety of features to deliver an overall performance that will give you the best in temperature control. There are two main types of heat pump thermostats and the options are simply based on preference. There are electro-mechanical and electronic heat pump thermostats, used for residential purposes. Many buy the electro-mechanical who do not really want a lot of fuss and are weary of new technology. The electronic heat pump thermostats can provide any temperature you'd like and are entirely programmable, where you can set it to 60 degrees at night and then have it programmed to be at a comfortable 70 degrees when you wake up in the morning. Electro-mechanical thermostats contain a bi-metal coil or strip that are two different types of metals, which expand and contract at different rates. When this takes place, the coil or strip moves and connects to a device that will provide the electrical circuit. They are set at standard temperatures and you adjust them with a little switch to the appropriate temperature.
The heat pump clearly plays an important to the air conditioning system whether this application is residential or commercial. Understanding this component is important for maintence of your heating or cooling system.
Sanjeev Shroff, the author has expertise in air conditioning system management and installation in both residential and commercial applications. Futher information can be found on his web site including information on search diverse topics as heat pumps to evaporator coils. http://www.AirConditioning-Filter.com: The Ultimate Guide to Filters and Much More.
The Heat Is On Indoor Heating And Air Conditioning Options
The professional term HVAC stands for Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and pretty much sums up your indoor air climate. For those of us in the higher elevations of a more northerly lattitude, heating is a significant concern and few have A-C where in the southern lattitudes, homes may focus more on A-C and rarely concern themselves with heat. And everyone should concern themselves with ventilation in their building whether it is done naturally with careful window placement and operation, or mechanically with blowers and filters. This blog will concern itself primarily with residential home HVAC and commercial systems shall be another post some other time.
There are two primary mediums in which one may transfer heat in their home. Moving air and moving water. Neither of these seems terribly high tech, and when you get right down to it, modern home heating systems fundamentally haven't changed much for quite some time. While advances in effeciencies have been tremendous, the core technology of heating air or water and moving it is still the same.
GFA : This means a Gas Forced Air system. Quite simple really - you have a furnace which burns fuel or has an electric heating element that warms air in a heat exchange chamber. Then a fan blows the heated air from the chamber through supply ducts to different portions of the home. A return duct sucks the air back into the chamber and the process continues in a loop. When you want air conditioning in the summertime, the same system exhanges the heat from the chamber to a separate refrigerant loop which takes the heat outside and effectively cools the air in the chamber, then the blower system circulates the cool air. Moving air tends to be an uncomfortable way to heat a home as it can be loud and can cause drafts, however it is one of the less expensive methods.
High Speed Air : Same basic idea, but the air moves much faster through smaller ducts. Great for remodels where you don't have the luxury of space to run ductwork. Manufacturers claim that sound is less of an issue because of duct size and other design features
Electric baseboard : cheap to install, but expensive to operate, these registers simply heat with an electrical element and exchange heat directly with the surrounding air in a baseboard type unit. No A-C possible with electric systems.
In-floor electric radiant : this is an electric resistance mat installed under a tile floor. very expensive to install and to run, but might be appropriate for very small areas like just a master bathroom if you seek warm toes on a winter morning.
The next systems are Hydronic systems. "Hydronic" is just a fancy word that simply means water. Water can be used any number of ways...
Hot Water Baseboard : The simplest is to have a boiler heat the water . Then the water is circulated with a small pump to various locations within the home that have a radiator of some kind. In much older homes, the radiators are quite large and take up quite a bit of space, but since the 60's, radiators have been replaced with baseboard heating registers. Still radiators, but much smaller and lower profile. Air conditioning is generally not supported in a system like this because of convective challenges in the baseboards.
In-Floor Radiant : Water can also be circulated in the floor of the home. This can be done with the piping that circulates the water embedded in a concrete slab, a lightweight gyp-crete slab on a structural wood floor deck, or stapled up under the plywood floor . There are other products out there for in-floor radiant, but they all function essentially the same. Part of the cost of a system like this is in the structure that supports the additional mass. This is an extremely comfortable way to heat a home, but it does not support A-C very well and the response time for a temperature change is very slow. It can also wreak havoc on some hardwood floors, so be careful here.
In-wall radiant : Same basic idea as in-floor, but the pipes run in concrete walls. This system obviously requires much more planning and concrete exterior walls, but we've seen it and it appears to be very effective.
Fan Coil : This system still has the boiler, but it moves water throughout the house to a small exchanger that has a fan attached to it that will blow the hot or cold air at the point of exchange. The nice thing here is a rapid response to temperature change.
Hybrid systems : These systems are composite systems, like in-floor radiant in a lower level slab, but fan coil heat in upper levels of the home. These methods can be very effective to customize the type of heat and A-C in a home.
And let's not forget the good old fireplace. Some may argue that a traditional fireplace is actually an A-C topic and not a heating device because of its abysmal efficiency and ability to draw cold air into a space. We highly recommend inserts, stoves, gas units, anything that can contain the movement of air and maximize the BTUs available in the fuel. Sometimes, we use these as the sole heating source for cabins or weekend places. The traditional open hearth fireplace looks nice, but forget about relying on it solely for heat.
So that's the basic rundown for most of the options available for central HVAC in a home. Every home is different and everyone has different preferences and different budgets. It is a very important element in the design of your home, and something we tend to talk a lot about because it can really affect the life-cycle cost of the home as energy prices go up. We also like to talk about it very early on in the programming phase as it can quickly drive a myriad of other design decisions.
Dean A. Dalvit, AIA, EIT is a registered architect and an owner of EVstudio. EVstudio is an architecture and planning firm with offices in Denver and Evergreen, Colorado and projects throughout the United States. For more information or to hire an architect for your next project visit http://www.evstudio.us and http://www.evstudio.info
Heat Pumps 5 Key Advantages Over Alternative Heating Solutions
There are numerous alternatives to provide heating for your home but if you consider the following five points, I think you'll agree that heat pumps have a pretty strong case as the best heating option on the market.
Firstly they are more than a heater. In summer they can also pump cool air through your home. Most other heating solutions spend more than half the year taking up space and being of no use in the summer months. This necessitates the use of a separate air conditioner to provide a cooling function. Heat pumps however are designed to be reversed in summer and effectively remove warm air from the inside to the outside.
As the most energy efficient heating solution heat pumps save money and contribute less to growing environmental problems.
Through the use of advanced filtration systems heat pumps are able to filter air before pumping it inside improving air quality in the home. This is an important advantage for people with allergy or respiratory problems.
They also act as a dehumidifier taking moist cool air from outside and pumping in dry air removing the need for a separate dehumidifier.
Their ability to quickly heat a room is second to none. Other heating solutions would struggle to heat a room in the time that a heat pump is capable of.
If you are planning to build a new home ensure that you consider the addition of a heat pump into the design, and if you already own a house but are not happy with your current heating solution think about the advantages of a heat pump.
Do you want to learn more about heat pumps?
KP Check writes for Perweek a New Zealand online retail business and has written a useful Heat Pump Buying Guide which explains how a heat pump works and the features you should consider before buying a heat pump.
Heat Pump Buying Guide at https://www.perweek.co.nz/heat-pump-buying-guide/
Residential Heating And Cooling With Geothermal Heat Pumps
The term geothermal literally means Earth-Ground Heat . Geothermal, or ground source heat pumps, take advantage of the constant ground or groundwater temperatures. These heat pumps use geothermal energy to heat and-or cool your home.
A refrigerant loop with a compressor extracts heat from one side and pumps it to the heating loop in your home. It is essentially the same process that happens in your refrigerator: heat is extracted via a compressor and refrigerant loop from the inside of your refrigerator-freezer and rejected into your house.
In the summer the geothermal heat pump reverses its cycle, if you have an air-conditioning system, and heat from the home is rejected into the ground or ground water.
What makes geothermal heat pumps such a good choice for residential heating and cooling is that they do not depend on outside air temperatures. These heat pumps will heat your home as efficiently on a windy, zero-degree winter day as on a 40-degree day. Provided of course, that your house is well insulated and tight.
Geothermal heat pumps are also a very efficient way for heating and cooling your home. They use 25-50% less energy than conventional heating and cooling systems .
Residential applications of geothermal energy systems use water-to-water or water-to-air heat pumps.
Water-to-Water Geothermal Heat Pumps
Water-to-water geothermal heat pumps are generally used for heating only. They replace the gas or oil furnace that you might currently have to heat your home and water with.
It is important to know that heat pumps work most effectively when the temperature difference between the heat source and heat sink is small.
Ground temperatures range anywhere from 50 to 75 degF, depending on where you live. This means that geothermal heat pumps are generally not suitable for standard hot water baseboard applications, which are designed for heating water temperatures of 180 degF. Floor heat and low-temperature radiators require water temperatures in the range of 95 to 140 degF.
Some newer heat pump models are now equipped with so-called desuperheaters that can transfer excess heat from the geothermal heat pump compressor to the domestic water heater. Your geothermal heat pump can also effectively and quickly heat water for your bathtub, shower and sinks.
Water-To-Air Geothermal Heat Pumps
These types of ground source heat pumps are generally used when you need air conditioning. The Water is the heat sink, where you reject the heat from the house. The Air is the air that is distributed through your home via duct work.
Otherwise, these heat pumps function the same way as water-to-water heat pumps. And again, the efficiency of a geothermal heating and cooling system is far better than that of a traditional system.
Important To Know
The first step towards making a geothermal heat pump system be a reliable and efficient heating system for your home is to minimize the heating and cooling requirements with a well-insulated building envelope and strategically placed windows for passive solar gain.
Not only is your first cost reduced, because your system will be smaller. You will also tremendously increase the comfort of your home.
Geothermal heat pump systems are best designed and installed by professionals. It is not recommended to DIY. These systems must meet specific requirements. Especially the piping laid out in the ground, or down to the ground water table, must be designed and installed correctly to ensure that your geothermal heat pump system works as intended.
Christiane Perrin is a registered professional HVAC engineer with a passion for the environment. She is excited about the building industry going green and wants to support homeowners on their journey to building and remodeling green homes.
http://www.greenandsustainablebuildings.com
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