Dan’s Home Energy Project

This section will explain how I thought of this whole crazy thing.

I have an HVAC background and have studied Geothermal Ground Source Heat Pumps for a while now.  I studied them to learn why the energy savings were so high.

I found the energy savings are tremendous and here I am, building an experiment.

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I hate giving money to the electric company and it’s only going to get more expensive and is why I started thinking of a Geothermal Ground Source Heat Pump for my own home.

Dans Home Energy Project started out as a normal geothermal ground source heat pump project.
When I started seriously thinking about installing one at my home, I called in a contractor and was told a 4-ton ton ground source heat pump would require (4) four vertical bore-holes at least 250 feet deep and would cost $2,000 each.  My first reaction was a choking sound followed by a few bad comments.  I knew I still wanted Geothermal unit but decided right there I wanted and needed to do something different and is when I started researching other installation methods.

Since my land slopes down hill away from the house in back, I thought horizontal slinky loops would be easiest and least expensive because I can use natural fill over the tubing, and I had an easy 6 to 8 feet of available height to fill if I chose to.

As I investigated the differences between Vertical Bore-Holes, Horizontal Slinky Loops and Vertical Slinky Loops I had an idea pop into my head.  What if I could use the hot water solar collectors to assist the heat pump operation in the winter by pre-heating the earth when the underground loops and earth are cold?  WOW, a new technology was born and I call it Geothermal Energy Storage tm.

I thought if I could raise the ground temperature a little in the winter or at least stabilize it during the daytime through the use of the solar collectors, I might be able to extract the stored energy after the sun goes down.  I decided to make a few phone calls to industry professionals to test this theory.  I received lots of feedback, ranging from Dan you might be on to something, to it won’t work; to it’s worth trying to see how long the heated earth will last.

This is when ‘Dan’s Home Energy Project’ started taking shape because I now had a challenge.  I thought, what do I have to lose?

I first drew a simple drawing using MS PowerPoint, then I drew a system schematic with pencil and paper along with its sequence of operation while on a plane ride to Puerto Rico for vacation.

My wife was thrilled! (not)

The original design included a dual layer slinky loop field. One for the geothermal unit and the other for the Geothermal Energy Storage tm system.  I wanted to lay down a horizontal slink loop configuration for the Ground Source Heat Pump first, then add a layer of material (dirt) on top of it, then on top of that install a loop field from the hot water solar collectors.  Next I wanted to pack about 6 to 8 feet of material on top of the whole thing.  This loop field would also include at least 4 underground temperature sensors to capture the temperature changes during the system operation.

Now that my system has a basic design, it’s time to research products and get some professional help. (not psychiatric)  I plan on doing all the installation myself including the trenching, welding, electrical and DDC component installation.  The only segment I don’t see myself doing is the DDC system programming and system commissioning.

I knew I needed to find some engineering assistance since I am not an engineer.  My experience comes from a lifetime of working on systems and designing new ones.  Through my work at Hays Fluid Controls, I met a man named Everett Pastureau, owner of Syntergy based out of Louisiana.  Syntergy has a great reputation of thinking out side the box when it comes to system designs and digital control system programming.  Syntergy has done some amazing things with school districts by implementing, new, innovative control sequences and installing state of the art energy efficient products.  I asked Everett what experience he had with solar and/or ground source heat pumps and after about 15-minutes of conversation, I knew I had the right guy.  I asked Everett if he would like to get involved with my system and he quickly and excitedly agreed.

One of the first things Everett did was analyze my homes construction and energy efficiency.  Everett came back after a careful diagnosis and told me I should only install a 3 ton unit, thus reducing my unit size by 1 ton.