Ground Source Heat Pump
Information Center
Ground Source Heat Pump Information Center provides a collection of resources to assist individuals, researchers, engineers, contractors and planners developing and deploying ground source heat pump projects. Ground Source Heat Pump Information Center is a Polson Enterprises web site.
Geothermal - Ground Source Heat Pumps
Ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems use a heat pump to exchange heat with the earth which remains at a relatively constant temperature and are the only practical way to employ geothermal energy in many parts of the country. Several versions of Ground Source Heat Pumps have evolved for both residential and commercial applications:
- Open and closed loop - close loop systems keep the fluid used for heat transfer within the system. Open loop systems use fluid in a reservoir (pond, well, lake) as the heat transfer fluid.
- Vertical and horizontal - vertical systems use two long pieces of pipe with a "U" at the bottom in a hole bored in the ground. Horizontal systems are installed in trenches. Sometime two or more pipes are spaced vertically in the same trench to increase heat transfer per foot of trench.
- SLINKY and SVEC Spiral systems - some horizontal systems use coiled pipe to increase the heat transfer per foot of trench. SLINKY was developed by the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association and the SVEC spiral was developed by the National Research Council of Canada.
Numerous other variations exist.
Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) systems were/are sometimes referred to as Earth-Coupled Heat Pumps, Earth-Coupled Water Source Heat Pumps, Geothermal Heat Pumps, Earth Exchange Systems (EES) or Geo-Exchange systems.
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