We’ve got a geothermal system with underfloor pipes.
I’ve been searching and reading and am becoming confused. Has any member actually done the conversation?
Depends on the machine - ours had the option to cool and was installed like that - in summer by anything up to 5 degrees, sending the cooler water around.
Cats love it.
You will need a fairly recent heat pump. Ours is 15 years old and cannot cool...
Ours is around six years old. I’ve asked Romande Energie if they can do it.
In our previous home it was not possible but this had nothing to do with the unit itself, which was about 5 years old. Apparently in older homes with underfloor heating the pipes were installed differently than in more modern homes and the cooling effect would be very mimimal. At least that is the explanation we were given by the manufacturer.
Romande Energie came this morning. They can’t convert it to air conditioning but what they can do is to divert the incoming cool water from underground, via pumps, into the underfloor pipes. This would pump cool water between 5 and 14c through the house. Thermostats would work in reverse. Turn up to cool, turn down to restrict flow of cool water
He is preparing a devis, but it doesn’t look that expensive.
That sounds like a very elegant solution.
I assume that for a heat pump, unlike conventional water-pipe underfloor heating, no chemicals are added to the water?
I was wondering what happened to the water once it had been pumped around the pipes?
Down the drain or something else?
I believe that ground sourced heat pump water is also contained in a closed loop, so it just recirculates back into the underground pipes, where it heat exchanges again, before coming back up. And they do put some corrossion resistant stuff in the water.
Kind regards
Ian
I don't think they can pump groundwater directly into your the pipes under your floor. Groundwater has lot of dissolved minerals, after pumping it carbon dioxide can escape (loss of partial carbon dioxide pressure or pCO2), of course you'll change its temperature and it's possible to trigger mineral precipitation. After some time, pipes clogged with mineral.
My guess is they're offering an open loop geothermal system. They pump groundwater into a heat exchange in your home. Heat from the water already circulating in your pipes under floor is transmitted to the water from the aquifer and send back to the ground. These systems minimize the risk of a blockage by mineral precipitation.
There are open loop and closed-loop geothermal systems. My guess is that Romande Energie is offering an open loop geothermal system. Explained here with pictures https://thehaytergroup.com/geothermal/geothermal-loops/
No, it’s a closed loop. Ground water doesn’t enter the system.
So, safer for groundwater and safer for your investment.
Congrats on getting a quote and an offer. The demand for these services is sky-high now, think you have heard about this war in Ukraine and natural gas scarcity. You're interested in cooling, but it's the same people working on heating.
I've heard stories about drillers and people installing heat pumps having so much work they tell potential customers to be fully booked until next year or even more.
One question about this: if you cool your floor (or radiators) on a warm humid day, won't this generate condensation on your floor (or radiators)?
Air conditioning does not only reduce air temperature, it reduces humidity (by necessity, cooler air can hold significantly less moisture).
Yes and no.
Yes, because this is exactly what happens inside your fridge.
No, because pipes under the floor in a room are a huge heat exchanger and cooling demand is not that high in CH. So, water doesn't have to be much cooler than air to bring the room air temp down. So, the dew point is not reached. Also, I've seen some fancy electronic controls on the cooling systems to automatically throttle them or shut them down if the dew point is about the be reached.
On lower latitudes with much higher cooling demand, where greater temp differences between cooling water and the air exists, yes condensation is a big problem.
I played around with an online dew point calculator.
Starmir wrote earlier that the cooling is about five degrees.
At 25°C air temperature, with RH 60%, the dew point is 16.7°C.
25°C - 5°C = 20°C so the dew point won't be reached.
A humidity rate of 60% would be unusual here. More like 30-40%
I've got an Oregon Scientific Hydrometer on my desk. It reads 62%. Air temp. is 25°C.
The one outside reads 53%.
We have this system in our house, and I can tell you that it makes very little difference to the overall temperature of the house. It might bring the overall temperatures down by 1-2C, but if I had to do it over again, I wouldn't spend the money.
If the overall temperrature isn't going to be significantly better what is the point?
We have a system which cools our house and it makes a huge difference.
One upgrade I contemplate for our home is a whole-house dehumidifier. I don't find the heat here to be difficult, but it's nice to reduce the humidity when it's warm. Your natural ability to cool yourself is quite effective in lower humidity environments.
I don't know if such a beast exists in the Merry Land of Switzerland, but it seems a reasonable way to go.
What system is that?