A good many people here in Pine County, Minnesota, have signed on with Willow River Geothermal to make their homes geothermal homes. Still hesitant about geothermal heating and cooling yourself? Understanding something of the science behind it – and the mechanics as well – would probably help.
We’ve written elsewhere about the merits of geothermal heating and cooling. Suffice it to say here that hardly any other manner of maintaining a comfortable home environment year-round are as efficient, dependable, or ultimately budget-friendly, particularlly when you take into account the energy savings.
Here’s how geothermal works that magic.
Thar’s Gold Heat in Them Thar Hills!
We mine the earth for precious metals. We drill the earth for oil. Now, more than ever, we’re tapping the earth for something undoubtedly just as valuable to the majority of us: the energy to heat and cool our homes that doesn’t necessitate oil.
You see, just under the earth’s crust – that would be in the neighborhood of 33,000 feet under our feet – is a mantle of magma. This is a molten and semi-molten brew, mainly of silicates, in which temperatures vary from 1300 degrees Fahrenheit to 2400 degrees Fahrenheit and hotter the deeper you go (not that you’d want to go there!). What this does is keep the ground immediately under the earth’s surface at a fairly constant year-round temperature of between 45 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The upshot? Underground temperatures in Pine County (and essentially everywhere stateside, in any event) are warmer than the ambient air above ground in Winter and cooler than the ambient air above ground in Summer.
Time to Get Pumped!
What geothermal heating and cooling systems do, then, is transfer heat from the ground to your home or heat from your home to the ground, as the season dictates. Either way, your home environment stays at the optimum temperature to keep you and your family comfortable year-round.
The apparatus that performs the transfer is a geothermal heat pump. It continuously circulates water or some solution (usually antifreeze) between your home and loops of piping (usually fabricated of polyethylene, high-density polyethylene, PVC, or CPVC) installed in the ground. In Winter, the liquid is cold when it enters the ground. As it travels through the loops, it assimilates heat from the earth and is reintroduced to your home warm. In Summer, the process is reversed: warm liquid goes into the loops, where it absorbs the cooler ground temperatures before it’s returned to your home. Looking for details? You’ll find more thorough information on ground loops here.
The central point is that geothermal heating and cooling systems don’t produce energy. They’re not like central heating systems, which generate heat themselves. Instead, geothermal systems heat and cool your home by harnessing the energy already abundantly available beneath the earth’s surface. That’s why geothermal systems not only run quieter but also are much more trustworthy, need less maintenance, have much longer lifespans, and are more environmentally friendly than old-school HVACs. That’s also why, over time, you’ll save lots more more money by going geothermal.
Curious now? Consult with Willow River Geothermal , your Pine County geothermal heating and cooling professional, today.