Ground Source Tempering Of Incoming Fresh Air.

Ryland · 10-18-11, 08:50 PM

I was taking a short tour of a new house that is being built a few blocks from where I live, it's being built on a small city lot by a non profit that helps low income people and this little two bedroom house is going to be added to their low income rentals, it looks like it should be a very impressive house when it's done, PV and solar hot water on a steel roof, 4" of foam on the outside of 2x6 walls with cellulose insulation and an air to air heat exchanger, but one thing that I had not seen done before was a 300' ground loop of 1" PEX that is berried out in the yard that is going to temper the incoming air, the theory is that it will bring any incoming air up to 50F, or in the summer bring that incoming air down to 50F with a water to air heat exchanger/radiator.
I didn't get a chance to see this heat exchanger first hand because it wasn't installed yet, but assuming that the pump and fan do not draw a lot of electricity this could work really well, granted this house was around 1,000sf and super insulated but this was also only being used to temper the air, not to full on heat it or cool it, but at the same time it shouldn't take a whole lot of energy to pump water in a closed loop so doubling or tripling the size could have a decent impact on the average house and 50F incoming air is nothing to sneeze at, even more so when it's just a coil of pex and not full sized duct work that is being put underground.

10-18-11, 08:50 PM	#1
Ryland Master EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Western Wisconsin. Posts: 913 Thanks: 127 Thanked 82 Times in 71 Posts	Ground Source Tempering Of Incoming Fresh Air. I was taking a short tour of a new house that is being built a few blocks from where I live, it's being built on a small city lot by a non profit that helps low income people and this little two bedroom house is going to be added to their low income rentals, it looks like it should be a very impressive house when it's done, PV and solar hot water on a steel roof, 4" of foam on the outside of 2x6 walls with cellulose insulation and an air to air heat exchanger, but one thing that I had not seen done before was a 300' ground loop of 1" PEX that is berried out in the yard that is going to temper the incoming air, the theory is that it will bring any incoming air up to 50F, or in the summer bring that incoming air down to 50F with a water to air heat exchanger/radiator. I didn't get a chance to see this heat exchanger first hand because it wasn't installed yet, but assuming that the pump and fan do not draw a lot of electricity this could work really well, granted this house was around 1,000sf and super insulated but this was also only being used to temper the air, not to full on heat it or cool it, but at the same time it shouldn't take a whole lot of energy to pump water in a closed loop so doubling or tripling the size could have a decent impact on the average house and 50F incoming air is nothing to sneeze at, even more so when it's just a coil of pex and not full sized duct work that is being put underground. Last edited by Ryland; 10-19-11 at 12:21 AM..