Little-known but efficient, a different way to heat and cool your house

[WolfEyes]

Little-known but efficient, a different way to heat and cool your house (msn.com)

Not sure what I think about this. I can see it being a good thing for small communities that are somewhat spread out but I'm not so sure how efficient these things will be when there are hundreds of them in close proximity.

I know we have an engineer or two around here and maybe an architect that could chime in and give an opinion. Is this something really worth pursuing or is it just another fly by night fad?

I've been scared our heating unit is going to conk out any moment every winter and since I have to go back to work for a few years I'm looking for alternatives to "all electric" that do not require gas. If this thing doesn't heat well enough, then I don't want to waste money on it because I'm also fed up with being cold in the winter.

Numpty should have scrolled down the list of articles a little more but still would like to hear from others.

Here's how geothermal energy heats and cools a home (msn.com)

 

[Kokoro Fasching]

They work very well. I do think that if an entire city was using this method that in 50-100 years it would begin to raise the temp of the soil, but the earth really has alot of absorption ability.

 

[Beebo Brink]

I've been reading about the advantages of heat pumps for years and would love to have that system. Unfortunately, even assuming we could afford to retrofit our old (1894) home with a completely new heating & cooling system, our house sits on rock, not dirt. We'd have to blast through rock to install the pipes, and run the risk of drilling into a sink hole. Geographically, we're just not in the right location to take advantage of this technology.

 

[Noodles]

It should work as described but I imagine the install cost is rather large. It suggests 30k in the article. They are burying it very deep. There also could be issues with thats in the ground under the house as well.

 

[Beebo Brink]

How ancient 'skywells' are keeping Chinese homes cool - BBC Future

 

[WolfEyes]

I've been reading about the advantages of heat pumps for years and would love to have that system. Unfortunately, even assuming we could afford to retrofit our old (1894) home with a completely new heating & cooling system, our house sits on rock, not dirt. We'd have to blast through rock to install the pipes, and run the risk of drilling into a sink hole. Geographically, we're just not in the right location to take advantage of this technology.

Neither are we really. Lots of volcanos and mountains around here.

 

[Khamon]

How ancient 'skywells' are keeping Chinese homes cool - BBC Future

Thank You. Our 1906 Edwardian currently has three of five chimneys covered waiting for roofing repair after January's tornado and we can definitely tell the difference. The house is ten-to-fifteen degrees warmer than normal. We're so looking forward to having the chimneys open and the reflective metal shingles back on the roof over the next few weeks.

Thermal heat pumps are not for us either because the middle of the state sits over miles and miles of limestone caves.

Edit: Central heat and air are a feasible option to install but will cost a fortune to operate because the house isn't "sealed" using modern construction techniques. We have two floor furnaces for the not really cold winter months and a couple of window units, a few ceiling fans, and skimpy clothing to stay relatively cool in the Summer. The ancient methods keep the inside temperature fifteen or more degrees cooler than outside under normal circumstances and that's comfortable enough even when the outside temps hit triple digits. Overcast days are better and we're having more and more of those lately.

 

[WolfEyes]

What I wouldn't give for a fireplace, but 1980 single wides didn't come with them. And at the prices I've seen, I'm not investing that much into a mobile home park for geothermal.