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Christopher Developments Completes New Home with Lake Source Heating System
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The beautiful waterfront setting of this recently completed home offers the new owners recreational benefits as well as an extremely efficient geothermal source of heating and cooling. Once numerous regulatory hurdles were overcome (another blog post to come), we were able to proceed with installation of a 2000 foot heat exchange loop sunk to a depth of 25 feet below the lake surface. At this depth the Langford Lake is a relatively constant 18 degrees Celsius temperature throughout the year , a perfect temperature for the system to draw heat in the winter and release heat from the home in the summer. Radiant piping was then laid on all three floors with a 1.5″ concrete slab to provide the thermal mass. |
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A ground-source heat pump uses the earth or ground water or other water source (lake, river or well) as the source of heat in the winter, and as the "sink" for heat removed from the home in the summer. For this reason, ground-source heat pump systems are known as earth-energy systems (EESs). Heat is removed from the earth through a liquid, such as ground water or an antifreeze solution, upgraded by the heat pump, and transferred to indoor air. The process is reversed during the summer: heat is extracted from indoor air and transferred to the earth through the ground water or antifreeze solution. A direct-expansion (DX) earth-energy system uses refrigerant in the ground-heat exchanger instead of an antifreeze solution.
Earth-energy systems are available for use with either forced-air or hydronic heating systems. They can also be designed and installed to provide heating only, heating with passive cooling, or heating with active cooling. Heating-only systems do not provide cooling. Passive-cooling systems provide cooling by pumping cool water or antifreeze through the system without using the heat pump to assist the process.