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== Geothermal Installation ==
== Geothermal Installation ==
The geothermal installation was really interesting to watch.  First Jackson drilling showed up and installed 8 wells, each 300' deep.  Each well provides 2 tons of heating/cooling capacity, through it's 600' of 1" PVC tubing, and there were two well fields installed in a line below our driveway to provide 8 tons each.  The wells are 20' apart to allow them enough ground to extract heat from.  The tubing was premade with a 'U' shaped connection at the tip.  I think the holes are 3" in diameter, and the tubing is encased in Benseal (a bentonite mixture for casing the well) for heat dispersal.<br/><br/>
The geothermal installation was really interesting to watch.  First Jackson drilling showed up and installed 8 wells, each 300' deep.  Each well provides 2 tons of heating/cooling capacity, through it's 600' of 1" PVC tubing, and there were two well fields installed in a line below our driveway to provide 8 tons each.  The wells are 20' apart to allow them enough ground to extract heat from.  The tubing was premade with a 'U' shaped connection at the tip.  I think the holes are 3" in diameter, and the tubing is encased in Benseal (a bentonite mixture for casing the well) for heat dispersal.  They liked drilling at our house because the asphalt made the process really clean for them, they could easily rack the tailing from the drill away and they had a nice solid base for thier rig, and since we have mostly shale and sandstone they were going through a 20' section of drilling pipe about every 2 minutes, or a well about every half hour.  They made quite a mess, but the drilling was done in a couple of days.  Or, rather, it would've been if they didn't break the bit on the next to last hole - and they didn't have a spare on this rig.<br/><br/>


<embedvideo service="youtube">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KM_ra9MKYw</embedvideo>
<embedvideo service="youtube">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KM_ra9MKYw</embedvideo>


These were connected via a trench about 3' deep (pretty close to the frost line here in Cincinnati) manifold system so the could equalize the flow to each well in parallel and bring the cooling fluid (a mixture of glycol) into the house.  One field runs to the south end of the house into the front utility space and provides 3 tons of cooling for the front of the house through a Trilogy 45 unit service the the front of the basement and first floor, and a 4 ton split unit that feeds cooled fluid to a standand line set to the otherwise conventional HVAC unit for the second floor.  The front Trilogy has cooling dampers and thermostats for the following zones.<br/>
'''Drilling'''
<hovergallery>
Image:IMG_5119.jpg|1" PVC tubing
Image:IMG_5120.jpg
Image:IMG_5146.jpg|Setting up the drilling rig
Image:IMG_5156.jpg|The drilling started around my birthday and made quite a mess... I didn't like that, so Elizabeth got me a cake to ease the blow
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Image:IMG_5123.jpg|The front wall by shower where the well field will enter the house
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Image:IMG_5121.jpg|Tubing will route through here
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Image:P1050158.jpg|Drilling
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Image:P1050164.jpg|Sweeping the tailings away
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Image:P1050167.jpg|Tubing installed
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Image:P1050169.jpg|Adjacent wells
Image:P1050170.jpg|Bentonite has been pumped in
Image:P1050171.jpg|The white tube was used to feed bentonite
Image:P1050172.jpg|The last well on this field - this one is next to the gas line (but we didnt' know it)!
Image:P1050173.jpg|They typically use this pan for tailings, but didn't need to here
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Image:P1050176.jpg|U bend at tip of tubing
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Image:P1050178.jpg|610' of tubing per well (in a 'U')
Image:P1050179.jpg|The business end
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Image:P1050192.jpg|Starting the second field
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Image:P1050198.jpg|Benseal Bentonite
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Image:P1050210.jpg|Benseal Bentonite
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</hovergallery>
 
 
These were connected via a trench about 3' deep (pretty close to the frost line here in Cincinnati) manifold system so the could equalize the flow to each well in parallel and bring the cooling fluid (a mixture of glycol) into the house.  The soutern field's last well was drilled without a boot's width of an unknown (and thus not marked by the utiltiy protection folks) of our neighbors gas line - which the ripped out while trenching.  One field runs to the south end of the house into the front utility space and provides 3 tons of cooling for the front of the house through a Trilogy 45 unit service the the front of the basement and first floor, and a 4 ton split unit that feeds cooled fluid to a standand line set to the otherwise conventional HVAC unit for the second floor.  The front Trilogy has cooling dampers and thermostats for the following zones.<br/>
* Basement Office
* Basement Office
* First Floor Dining Room<br/>
* First Floor Dining Room<br/>
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* First Floor Family Room<br/>
* First Floor Family Room<br/>


'''Well Fields'''
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Image:IMG_5178.jpg|Wells complete and trenching
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Image:IMG_5166.jpg|Connecting the wells into a field
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Each of the 2 Trilogy units gets added efficiency by using some of the excess heat from the heat pump and well system to heat hot water for the house as well. This makes it the most efficient unit you can get in the United States.  We will use this hot water as preheat to a system of tankless (Navien) hot water heaters that can provide endless full-flow hot water, and the electric backup heat in the Trilogy tanks will be deactivated.
'''Heat Pump Installation'''
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Image:IMG_5179.jpg|Geo piping brought into the house for HVAC installation
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Image:IMG_5177.jpg|4 ton Trilogy 45
Image:IMG_5180.jpg|Trilogy connections for hot water and geo fluid
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Revision as of 20:49, 30 June 2019

We purchased our new home after Christmas 2017 and started an ambitious remodel, completely gutting the basement to add a second master space and create a Data Center. We also elected to covert it to 100% geothermal heating and air-conditioning and install tankless hot water (to supplement the "free" geothermal hot water). geothermal is dedicated to the geothermal installation process and results.

Addition

Basement Remodel

Geothermal Installation

The geothermal installation was really interesting to watch. First Jackson drilling showed up and installed 8 wells, each 300' deep. Each well provides 2 tons of heating/cooling capacity, through it's 600' of 1" PVC tubing, and there were two well fields installed in a line below our driveway to provide 8 tons each. The wells are 20' apart to allow them enough ground to extract heat from. The tubing was premade with a 'U' shaped connection at the tip. I think the holes are 3" in diameter, and the tubing is encased in Benseal (a bentonite mixture for casing the well) for heat dispersal. They liked drilling at our house because the asphalt made the process really clean for them, they could easily rack the tailing from the drill away and they had a nice solid base for thier rig, and since we have mostly shale and sandstone they were going through a 20' section of drilling pipe about every 2 minutes, or a well about every half hour. They made quite a mess, but the drilling was done in a couple of days. Or, rather, it would've been if they didn't break the bit on the next to last hole - and they didn't have a spare on this rig.

Drilling


These were connected via a trench about 3' deep (pretty close to the frost line here in Cincinnati) manifold system so the could equalize the flow to each well in parallel and bring the cooling fluid (a mixture of glycol) into the house. The soutern field's last well was drilled without a boot's width of an unknown (and thus not marked by the utiltiy protection folks) of our neighbors gas line - which the ripped out while trenching. One field runs to the south end of the house into the front utility space and provides 3 tons of cooling for the front of the house through a Trilogy 45 unit service the the front of the basement and first floor, and a 4 ton split unit that feeds cooled fluid to a standand line set to the otherwise conventional HVAC unit for the second floor. The front Trilogy has cooling dampers and thermostats for the following zones.

  • Basement Office
  • First Floor Dining Room

The northern well field comes into the house in the full bath and routes up the wall and into the ceiling to reach the rear utility space where there is a 4 ton Trilogy 45 system for the back of the house - basement and first floor. In the ceiling is a T for the 3 ton HVAC unit for the addition. 1 Ton of excess capacity was planned. The rear Trilogy has cooling dampers and thermostats for the following zones.

  • Basement Master Bedroom
  • Basement Family Room
  • First Floor Master Bedroom
  • First Floor Family Room

Well Fields


Each of the 2 Trilogy units gets added efficiency by using some of the excess heat from the heat pump and well system to heat hot water for the house as well. This makes it the most efficient unit you can get in the United States. We will use this hot water as preheat to a system of tankless (Navien) hot water heaters that can provide endless full-flow hot water, and the electric backup heat in the Trilogy tanks will be deactivated.

Heat Pump Installation

Data Center

See Camp Kiwi Data Center.

Pre-Purchase Pictures

Older Zillow Pictures