Geothermal fo cooling

Hillcrest · 06-08-13, 02:24 PM

Hot humid LONG summers, v mild winters. Rocky 1/4 acre back yard. 2 story 2500 square feet.
Looking for ideas.
Thx

Mobile Master Tech · 06-08-13, 04:46 PM

Welcome aboard!

Geothermal may be difficult because of the rocks, but you can find a way around that. Geothermal has greater benefit for heating than cooling, because the system doesn't have to lift the heat very "high" for cooling, usually less than 20degF (example: 98F outside when trying to keep the house at 78F) but you DO have lots of heat to move-people, cooking, latent humidity, the inefficiency heat of the unit itself, and solar gain. When heating, you could easily have an 80F lift (say from -10F to 70F). That's the main reason geothermal helps-55F earth is a better heat source with a lower lift than -10F air!

A really efficient air conditioner or improving what you've got may be better bang for the buck if you have mainly cooling loads. I live in Atlanta and my Nordyne 23 SEER AC rarely takes much more than 10kwh/day to keep my 5br/3.5BA home, basement AND garage cool.

Many threads and many members on this forum will give you great info. The gold standard, working on half a million views, is AC Hacker's Homemade Heat Pump Manifesto, found THROUGH THIS LINK. You may feel like you are drinking from a fire hose, but it will be worthwhile.

Read through several threads, find out what your Heating Degree Days (HDD) and Cooling Degree Days (CDD) are, find out how to calculate or at least estimate your heating and cooling loads, and make some posts with specifics. You will find plenty of helpful souls here.

Craig
The MMT

Daox · 06-10-13, 09:36 AM

Welcome to the site!

We have a good list of easy/quick things you can do on our: 60+ Home Energy Saving Tips You can do Right Now page. Check out the air sealing and cooling sections.

06-08-13, 02:24 PM	#1
Hillcrest Lurking Renovator Join Date: May 2013 Location: Arkansas Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Geothermal fo cooling Hot humid LONG summers, v mild winters. Rocky 1/4 acre back yard. 2 story 2500 square feet. Looking for ideas. Thx

06-08-13, 04:46 PM	#2
Mobile Master Tech Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: May 2012 Location: Atlanta, Ga Posts: 142 Thanks: 38 Thanked 41 Times in 34 Posts	Welcome aboard! Geothermal may be difficult because of the rocks, but you can find a way around that. Geothermal has greater benefit for heating than cooling, because the system doesn't have to lift the heat very "high" for cooling, usually less than 20degF (example: 98F outside when trying to keep the house at 78F) but you DO have lots of heat to move-people, cooking, latent humidity, the inefficiency heat of the unit itself, and solar gain. When heating, you could easily have an 80F lift (say from -10F to 70F). That's the main reason geothermal helps-55F earth is a better heat source with a lower lift than -10F air! A really efficient air conditioner or improving what you've got may be better bang for the buck if you have mainly cooling loads. I live in Atlanta and my Nordyne 23 SEER AC rarely takes much more than 10kwh/day to keep my 5br/3.5BA home, basement AND garage cool. Many threads and many members on this forum will give you great info. The gold standard, working on half a million views, is AC Hacker's Homemade Heat Pump Manifesto, found THROUGH THIS LINK. You may feel like you are drinking from a fire hose, but it will be worthwhile. Read through several threads, find out what your Heating Degree Days (HDD) and Cooling Degree Days (CDD) are, find out how to calculate or at least estimate your heating and cooling loads, and make some posts with specifics. You will find plenty of helpful souls here. Craig The MMT __________________ "I‘d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don‘t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that." Thomas Edison, 1847 — 1931

06-10-13, 09:36 AM	#3
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Welcome to the site! We have a good list of easy/quick things you can do on our: 60+ Home Energy Saving Tips You can do Right Now page. Check out the air sealing and cooling sections. __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.