A geothermal installation allows homeowners to take advantage of the steady temperature of the earth or bodies of water to warm and cool your home. Just a few feet below the surface, the ground maintains a consistent average temperature of 55 degrees year-round. Similarly, lakes and water wells also offer stable sources of temperature that a heat pump can utilize to absorb and disperse heat. With over a million residential installations, geothermal has become the fastest-growing heating and cooling source based on renewable energy. It offers efficiencies as much as four times greater than conventional, combustion-based heating and alleviates the environmental effects of burning fossil fuels in your home. Three factors will influence the type of geothermal installation that best fits your needs and the specific characteristics of your property: GeologyClosed loop geothermal installations utilize buried loops of plastic tubing which circulate heat transfer fluid to absorb the earth’s heat in winter and disperse heat extracted from the home in summer. For maximum heat transfer, certain soil types are better than others. Damp clay-like soils provide the greatest efficiency while dry, sandy soils are the least desirable.HydrologyInstallation of geothermal loops in a nearby pond or well requires a year-round water depth of at least 8 feet in order to provide the required temperature stability. The body of water should be fed from some dependable source and not subject to loss of depth during times of reduced rainfall.LandLoop fields are sized according to the heating and cooling load of the home. Horizontal loop fields require the most ground space for installation. A good rule of thumb for a horizontal loop field is that the installation will require unobstructed land of approximately the same size as the footprint of the house. At locations where insufficient land exists for horizontal excavation, vertical bores deep into the ground are commonly used to save space.Since 1985, Air Assurance has served local homeowners with the largest full-service HVAC fleet in Tulsa. Give us a call and let us explain more about the options for geothermal installation in your home.Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Image courtesy of Shutterstock