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Geothermal

If you’re looking for a reasonable alternative to conventional home heating and cooling systems, geothermal power is a great option. It’s reliable, renewable and can save you a lot of money on your monthly home heating and cooling bills. Unfortunately, many people write off geothermal systems because they think they’re too expensive. Before you dismiss this great technology out of hand, it’s worth learning a bit more about what geothermal is and what it can provide for your home.

Lanz Heating & Cooling specializes in geothermal system installation, maintenance and repair. We have made geothermal energy a working part of many households throughout the Champaign–Urbana area and would be glad to do the same for yours. We’re always glad to answer any questions you might have about this great technology and can guide you through a geothermal installation from start to finish.

Did you know that the Environmental Protection Agency reported geothermal heating installations produce forty-four percent less greenhouse gasses than typical heat pumps?  The EPA also noted that geothermal heating devices produce seventy-two percent less green house emissions than standard electric heating devices.  Geothermal heating systems are great for the environment and for your household budget.  

How Geothermal Heating & Cooling Works

Geothermal heat pumps work much like a traditional air source heat pumps. The difference though, is that a geothermal pump extracts heat from the ground rather than from the air. That heat is absorbed by a liquid, usually a mixture of water and antifreeze, which then passes through a loop of pipe located in the ground near your home.

Once it has absorbed the heat, the liquid cycles back up into the geothermal heat pump in your home where it releases the heat it gathered. Air is then heated by the indoor condenser and the heated air is circulated throughout your home by an air handler. The liquid, meanwhile, returns to the ground to gather more heat and the cycle begins again.

But a geothermal heat pump can do more than just keep your home warm in the winter. It’s actually able to cool your home in the summer as well by operating in reverse. In this mode, the heat is removed from your indoor air and absorbed by the liquid, which then cycles into the ground to release the heat. This works because the ground is both warmer than the air in the winter and cooler than the air in the summer.

Geothermal Installation Options

While the specific details of your geothermal heat pump installation depend to a great extent on the particulars of your home and property layout, there are two basic options to consider. The most common is a horizontal installation in which the loop of pipe that the liquid cycles through is installed in a trench about four feet deep in your yard.

However, if you don’t have enough space around your home to allow for this type of installation or if you live in an area where the ground freezes regularly for long periods of time, you may be better off with a vertical installation. In a vertical installation, a hole is drilled straight down and the loop of pipe is inserted into it.

A vertical installation generally uses a smaller loop of pipe because the ground further down holds substantially more heat than the ground just below the surface of your yard. But the cost of drilling the hole is substantially higher than the cost associated with digging a relatively shallow trench, so vertical installations can cost quite a bit more than their horizontal counterparts.

The geothermal technicians at Lanz Inc. are fully trained in geothermal heat pump installation, maintenance and repair. We can help you evaluate your options and determine if this type of technology is right for your Champaign, IL area home. So give us a call today to learn more about the great products and services we offer.