The Geothermal Air Conditioner: Are You Ready For Major Construction?

When you have made up your mind that you are definitely purchasing a geothermal air conditioning system, you might want to do a little more digging, both figuratively and literally. Excavation on your property is a major part of installing this system, and it is not just a little hole in the ground either. Before you fully commit to this type of air conditioner, you should know about the major construction needed to install it.

The Loop

You will need enough space in your yard to install the geothermal "loop." The most common, and least costly, is the horizontal configuration. This requires a backhoe to enter your yard, dig trenches about five to six feet deep (depending on where the frost line is in your area), and make multiple side-by-side trenches. In addition to these trenches, a separate trench has to run up to the back or side of your home, depending on where you are going to install this system. The trenches are deep enough and long enough to cause injury to pets, children, and adults who are not watching where they are going, so you will need to do this project on a day when none of the above are home. 

There are three other kinds of loops, too. The vertical loop will require a lot of extremely noisy vertical drilling into depths that only worms and moles can appreciate. The "pond" configuration still requires horizontal trenches, but the trenches are shorter and slightly wider to accommodate the coiled-up loops. DX copper loops are the most recent option, and a large circular hole is required for this asterisk-looking "loop."

The Heat Pump

The heat pump connected to the loop and to the interior of your home removes the hot air and replaces it with the cooler air from underground. It needs its own space and its own concrete slab on which to sit. That is a little more construction to be completed before the loop and the pump are connected.

Systems Testing and Burial 

The whole system has to be tested thoroughly. Then everything is buried with all of the dirt pulled out of your yard from the excavation. To restore the yard fully, you will need to plant grass seed or buy sod from a sod farm to make your yard look like it did before the major construction work of the geothermal air conditioning installation. 

Contact a company like A-Thompson Refrigeration Air Conditioning & Heating Service Inc today to learn more.