Geothermal house heating and cooling is an environmentally friendly way to keep the house more comfortable. The idea behind it is to gather the heat stored in the earth and blow it through the cold house in the winter, or take heat from the house in the summer and store it in the earth. As a way to save money on fuel costs, geothermal house heating and cooling makes sense.

The main components of a geothermal house heating and cooling system are a heat pump, a loop of pipe that runs through the ground, and a center to attach these to the duct and vent system in the house. Either well water or a mixture of water and antifreeze is pumped through the pipes in the ground. The pipes can run 1000 feet or more vertically or horizontally.

The soil and earth change temperature much more slowly than the surface air. Think of how the temperature inside a cave tends to be about the same year round. Geothermal house heating and cooling taps into this heat to reduce the amount of fossil fuels needed for heating the house.

In many cases, the geothermal heat can also be used to assist with the heating of household water, particularly in the winter and summer when the system is in full swing. In some cases, this method of house heating can also provide all the hot water in a home.

Cost Savings

The geothermal house heating and cooling system can be expensive to install initially, but is a real money saver as the years go on. Installation difficulty depends on the type of soil in which it is being placed. Rocky soil will require more intervention to install the loop.

Proponents of the geothermal house heating and cooling system say that it can be used with virtually any home or lot in the country. The heat circulates throughout the house through a system of ducts and vents similar to that with any central heating and air conditioning system. Considering the price of fossil fuels, the geothermal heat pump is a new technology that is bound to grow in popularity in the years to come.