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Old 08-25-15, 01:18 PM   #8
TechShop
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Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: Washington
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Honestly I don't think there's any way to have too much re-bar either.

For the winter, I will be running open loop. I have access to an endless supply of good clean water from a well on the property. The well is among some artesian springs which flow down into my pond. I will give that well water a detour through my heat pump and out to the pond.

While I was building, I spent the last winter in a motorhome. As an experiment, I converted a 5000 BTU/H window A/C into a small open-loop geothermal heat pump. It sure worked well and saved me the trouble of filling propane every week during the cold months. My incoming water temps never dipped below 49 degrees F.

Last fall I dug a couple of trenches and installed some 1-1/4" HDPE irrigation pipe. I have a total of 450 feet of trench with 900 feet of pipe buried. I realize that isn't enough to satisfy a 4-ton system, but I will use these loops to test the ground here this winter. Next spring I will either dig more horizontal loops, or bore some holes depending on the results of my tests. I am leaning toward the vertical loops.
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