Geothermal heating and cooling systems is a fast-growing segment of our industry. Geothermal runs on the principle of a constant temperature in the ground below us. The water temperature and ground temperature in Middle Tennessee is approximately 58 degrees. Therefore, for example, if it was 30 degrees outside, and you wanted it to be 70 degrees in your house: instead of bringing the air temperature up 40 degrees, it would only need to be raised 12 degrees using the starting ground temperature. When the unit is in cooling mode, if it is 90 degrees outside, and you would like for it to be 75 degrees in your home: the water temperature is already cooler than what you want, so the cool water going through a coil with the fan will cool your home much more efficiently. On average, for every kilowatt of electricity purchased, you will receive 4 kilowatts of energy into the home. In most circumstances, geothermal can lower your heating and cooling costs approximately 50%. These systems also may be designed where you can have free hot water, which is another added advantage. Presently, there is a 30% tax credit that is offered on all geothermal systems (Federal Geothermal Tax Credits). If your income is not enough to use the entire credit in one year, you may roll these over to another tax year. For more information, please talk to your tax preparer.
Landers Well Drilling is an accredited preferred contractor with TVA.
There are 2 kinds of geothermal systems: an open loop system and a closed loop system. In an open loop system, a water well is drilled which will produce the appropriate amount of gallons per minute to run the unit, and then another well is drilled for the return water.
A closed loop system is for situations where you may not get an adequate water supply to run the system, so you drill multiple boreholes with loops installed. These loops go in the hole and out the hole to the next hole in a series, then you put a bentonite grout surrounding the loop, filling the rest of the space in the borehole. This bentonite grout is thermally-inhanced to maximize the proper temperature transfer. Then, water and glycerin is put inside the loop. All air is purged where the fluid will circulate through the system in and out of each loop over and over in that series.