WaterFurnace Geothermal Heating and Cooling
Did you know that there is an abundant source of free, renewable energy that could be used to heat your house in the winter, cool it in the summer, and provide hot water all year round? You may be thinking of solar panels, but the energy being used in this instance is called “Geothermal”.
A Geothermal heat pump system taps into the renewable solar energy stored within the ground; thus providing savings of up to 70% on utility bills for the home owner.
It operates similarly to a standard heat pump; however, instead of exchanging heat from the outside air, a geothermal heat pump exchanges heat from ground temperatures.Ground temperatures remain steady throughout the year, ranging from 55 degrees in the winter to 70 degrees in the summer, whereas the outside air temperatures can vary greatly.
For example, summers in Florida can be extremely brutal with temperatures ranging in the 90’s and above. In order to cool your home, traditional conditioning systems collect indoor heat and expel it outside into more heat, thus making the air exchange process to cool much harder for the unit to operate effectively and efficiently.
On the contrary, a geothermal unit collects heat from your home and moves it to the earth’s much cooler more constant temperatures. It doesn’t matter how much the outside air temperatures change, the Earth’s constant effectively creates a much more efficient air exchange, thus keeping your home cool and comfortable.
Winters in Florida can also be extreme, temperatures can sometimes go below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. In order to warm your home, ordinary heating systems take the outside warm air and move it into your home. Unfortunately, when temperatures drop, there is less warm air to move indoors, thus putting a strain on your unit to create heat through combustion.
On the other hand, a geothermal unit never sees extreme cold winter weather temperature changes it draws from the Earth’s reservoir of much warmer temperatures, consentrates it and moves it to your home – no combustion required.
How does all of this work?
A Geothermal WaterFurnace System uses a series of underground pipes called a “loop”. These closed loop systems use a sealed environment to circulate a water based solution through a collection of small diameter, high density, polyethylene underground pipes. There are four main closed loop systems used: Vertical Loops, Horizontal Loops, Pond Loops, and Open Loops.
WaterFurnace dealers and loop contractors are trained to design the best loop system for your home and unique situation.
All in all, geothermal systems are the most environmentally friendly, cost effective and energy efficient heating and cooling technology available.
“A typical 2500 Sq. Ft. home with geothermal can save the electric company more than 9 tons of coal per year.” Geothermal units minimize the threats of acid rain, air pollution, the greenhouse effect and global warming. Installing a single geothermal unit is the environmental equivalent of planting 750 trees or forever removing 2 cars from the road.
“Get Smarter from the Ground Up.” Contact Action Air Conditioning & Heating at (850) 994-5423 for more information.