Thursday, November 29, 2007

Heat Pump: Part 2 - ground loop installed!




Amongst the generous mix of mud, scaffolding and construction materials we're relieved to have the 300m of 40mm diameter heat pump 'collector' pipe safely buried 1.4m underground. This photo from the upper scaffolding shows the end result in the middle distance which should re-vegitate over next spring.




We are very fortunate in having an ideal location for this collector system, being on gently sloping ground with a high water table. This will ensure that that low grade 'heat' taken out of the ground will be quickly replenished by this water movement under the ground at pipe level, with heat transfer aided by the sand used to protect the pipe aganst sharp rocks when backfilled.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Steve,
Glad you have pump installed and I bet Finlay is enjoying playing in the mud. Will there be easy access to the pump if for any reason it doesnt work?
Julie x

Steve said...

Hi Julie
- we'e not quite there yet as what we have installed is the plastic pipe which collects the low grade heat from under the ground; the pump unit itself will be located in the utility room where the ends of the underground pipe magically appear out of the concrete floor slab (in the right place we hope!). The pump unit looks like a tall fridge/freezer and includes a mains pressure hot water cylinder.
As for the mud the washing machine seems to be constantly on and full of kids clothes... (I know - you've been there...!).
Luv Steve

Anonymous said...

A pretty impressive move on from building model aircraft :)