FAQs Archive ⋆ Page 2 of 4 ⋆ Earth River Geothermal, Inc.

Q: Will an earth loop affect my lawn or landscape?

Initially, yes; however, after we properly clean up the lawn, No. Research has proven that loops have no adverse effect on grass, trees, or shrubs. Most horizontal loop installations use trenches about six inches wide. This, of course, will leave temporary bare areas that can be restored with grass seed or sod. Vertical loops require little space and result in minimal lawn damage.

Q: How long will the loop pipe last?

Closed-loop systems should only be installed using high-density polyethylene or polybutylene pipe. Properly installed, these pipes will last for many decades. They are inert to chemicals normally found in soil and have good heat conducting properties.

Q: How many pipes are in a trench?

Normally, a run of pipe is laid at five feet then looped back over itself at three feet once the bottom pipe is covered with soil. This allows more length of pipe to be put in one trench and has no adverse effect on system efficiency. Other loop designs use four or six pipes and allow for shorter trenches if the land area is limited.

Q: How deep and long will my trenches be?

Trenches are normally four to six feet deep and up to 400 feet long, depending on how many pipes are in a trench. One of the advantages of a horizontal loop system is being able to lay the trenches according to the shape of the land. As a rule of thumb, 500-600 feet of pipe is required per ton of system capacity. A well-insulated 2,000 square-foot home would need about a three-ton system with 1,500 – 1,800 feet of pipe.

Q: Where can this loop be located?

That depends on land availability and terrain. Most closed-loops are trenched horizontally in yards adjacent to the building. But any area near a home or business with appropriate soil conditions and adequate square footage will work.

Q: What is a closed-loop geothermal system?

The term “closed-loop” is used to describe a geothermal heat pump system that uses a continuous loop of special buried plastic pipe as a heat exchanger. The pipe is connected to the indoor heat pump to form a sealed, underground loop through which an antifreeze solution is circulated. Unlike an open-loop system that consumes water from a well, a closed-loop system recirculates its heat-transferring solution in pressurized pipe. Earth River Geothermal, Inc. only installs vertical closed-loop geothermal systems.

Q: Does the underground pipe system really work?

The buried pipe, or “ground loop,” is the most recent technical advancement in heat pump technology. The idea to bury pipe in the ground to gather heat energy began in the 1940s. It’s only been within the last few years that new heat pump designs and improved pipe materials have been combined to make geothermal heat pumps the most efficient heating and cooling systems available.

Q: Do I need separate ground loops for heating and cooling?

No. The same loop works for both. All that happens when changing from heating to cooling, or vice versa, is that the flow of heat is reversed.

Q: How is heat transferred between the earth and the home or building?

The earth has the ability to absorb and store heat energy. To use that stored energy, heat is extracted from the earth through a liquid medium (groundwater or an anti-freeze solution) and is pumped to the heat pump or heat exchanger. There, the heat is used to heat the air. In summer, the process is reversed and indoor heat is extracted from indoors and transferred to the earth through the liquid.