Understanding Geothermal Heating and Cooling

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We hear the term ‘geothermal’ often in the media but not everyone is aware of what it is and how it works. Simply put, geothermal heat pumps are an efficient way to heat and cool your home or business. They are also able to provide free hot water if set up to do so.

No matter where we live, no matter the climate we live in, a few feet below the grounds surface the earth stays at a relatively constant temperature. The ground temperature ranges from 45°F to 75°F. In the winter the ground temperature is warmer than the air above and in the summer the ground temperature is cooler that the air. Geothermal heat pumps use the constant temperature of the earth below the frost line as the exchange medium instead of the air temperature outside. During the heating cycle they use the earth loop to extract heat from the ground. As it pulls the heat from the earth the system distributes through a conventional duct system. In the cooling mode, the heating process is simply reversed. Instead of extracting heat from the earth, heat is extracted from the air in your home or business and either moves back into the earth loop or is used to heat the water in your hot water tank.

There are four basic types of geothermal systems. There are three types that are called closed-loop systems and the fourth is an open-loop system. They are available for commercial buildings, new construction and existing homes.

Unlike conventional furnaces that burn a fuel to generate heat, geothermal heat pumps use electricity to move the heat from the earth to your home or business. Geothermal technology is a great investment that will help save you money on your utilities each year. Most homeowners see a reduction in their energy bills of 30 to 70 percent. These systems have a lower maintenance cost and have a longer life expectancy than other heating and cooling systems.

Because these systems are so efficient and environmentally friendly, you can receive a tax credit for the installation of a geothermal system. In 2009, a 30% tax credit for the installation of a geothermal system was enacted. This credit is available through 2016. There are a few qualifications one needs to meet to get the tax credit.

Geothermal energy is not a new technology. It has been around for several decades. They have gone by different names over the years. They have been called ground-water assisted, ground-water source and geoexchange to name a few.

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Tips To Purchase Energy Efficient Central Air Conditioners

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Whether it’s about getting relief from the intense heat of the summers or cold waves of the winters, a central air conditioning is most required. Usually, an air conditioner has a life span of 15 to 20 years. You can use the old unit for a long time to avoid the expenses needed for buying a new one. However, remember that this method may help you save buying expenses but not the monthly utility bill expenses. Hence if you really mean to save money, consider buying new energy efficient central air conditioners.

In order to secure the best air conditioning deal, you have to follow certain tips. These tips are discussed below.

Tip 1:

Consider EER rating: While taking a look at the air conditioning systems, make sure to check the EER (Energy Efficiency Rating). EER should be 11.6 or more. EER indicates thermal expansion valve and high temperature efficiency of the unit. A conditioner with good EER rating means it can run well even during the hottest weather. Some conditioners also come with SEER ratings. SEER stands for Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating.

Tip 2:

Pick the perfect size: Avoid buying a too small or too big central air conditioner for your home or office space. Small units will have to run longer to keep the place cool, which in turn, can increase your utility bill expenses or potentially lead to the damage of the parts. In fact, it may also fail to produce desired results during hottest days. On the contrary, if you buy a big unit, it may fail to eliminate humidity from the atmosphere due to its quick cycles. However, a proper sized conditioning system will ensure good performance, reducing energy consumption. In order to get an idea about the size of central A/C suitable for your home or anywhere you want to install it, contact HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) contractors first.

Tip 3:

Check the components: See if the air conditioning unit is fitted with a variable speed air handler and an automatic-delay fan switch. A variable speed air handler facilitates lesser energy consumption and proper air circulation. An automatic-delay fan switch is placed so that when the compressor is stopped, the fan also stops operating after a while. Due to this, the remaining cool air circulates on the indoor coil before the fan gets stopped. In addition, you can also see if the conditioner has a check filter light feature. This feature has been added to the system so that you can check the unit’s filter after the designated operating hours are over.

These are the basic points that you need to remember while buying an energy efficient central A/C for your home or office. As far as the maintenance is concerned, you can contact a well known air conditioning service and repair store for help.

 

Zoning Technology Rapidly Evolving

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“Most people only live in three rooms of the house: the bedroom, kitchen, and TV room,” Bluestone said. “The rest of the house is vacant. There’s no reason to put fresh air into those rooms as immediately as you would the three main rooms. The key is to provide comfort where people are, not where they are not.”

Technology, in many ways, has helped save the average person time, money, and hassle. And, when it comes to zoning an HVACR system, technology has helped make zoning a more accessible option for consumers and contractors.

Technological Advances

“So many homeowners have a need for zoning, but not enough contractors do zoning because it takes a little bit of education,” said Stan Zywicki, product marketing director, IAQ, zoning, and water, Honeywell. “In the past, technology hasn’t been available to make these jobs easy enough for the large mass of contractors to be really good at zoning. Products that are easy to setup and don’t require a lot of adjustment, and products that reduce the risk of a callback, are often the most beneficial technologies.”

Zywicki and Honeywell, along with a number of zoning manufacturers, continue to research and develop technology, designed to make the technology more accessible for consumers, and easier for contractors to install and service.

According to Zywicki, Honeywell’s new TrueZone Bypass Damper can “significantly cut installation time by replacing the old weight system with a simple handle.”

“You can mount it in any direction, easily set it, and there’s no dumb weight to adjust,” he said. “Every single time it’s going to bypass the right amount of air to keep the static pressure below the maximum setting. It solves a lot of problems for zoning, and is a simple, affordable, easy-to-use technology that everybody can benefit from.”

In an increasingly wireless world, ZoneFirst is taking an old wired technology and making it new again. The company’s ZDSP & ZDBP Rectangular and Square Zone Dampers offer plug-and-play technology using phone cords, which has really helped simplify the wiring of dampers, said Dick Foster, president, Zonefirst.

“You can control multiple dampers off of the same zone very easily by daisy-chaining them,” he said. “The motors draw very little power and they virtually last a lifetime. Plus, they have an LED on the damper to tell you whether it’s open or closed.”

Zonefirst’s system allows up to 10 dampers to be daisy-chained together at once, Foster said, with each motor featuring two telephone jacks. Each damper includes a 25-foot telephone cord. Because of the use of the telephone cord, a contractor’s job becomes easier when dealing with the wires.

“The wire’s already plugged in,” Foster said. “They don’t have to cut, strip, or buy wire, and it’s a clear plug and play. … With us, you just unclick the telephone jack and move it to the next zone.”

Jackson Systems recently introduced the Barometric Zone Damper (BZD), a damper that has quickly become one of the company’s signature products.

“The BZD has been wildly successful,” said Tom Jackson, CEO, Jackson Systems. “It’s definitely what we’re focused on.”

The BZD is like any normal zone damper, but with one notable exception: It has a built-in static-pressure relief mechanism that eliminates the need for a bypass damper.

“We know the archenemy of the contractor is the bypass damper and it’s always the area that causes the most questions,” Jackson said. “If a contractor has to work within the confines of a closet because that’s where the equipment was installed originally, they don’t have a lot of room to add the bypass damper. If they are trying to add an additional level of comfort for their customer by offering zoning, sometimes that bypass damper became a big obstacle to overcome because they just didn’t have the room to install it.”

The idea for the BZD came from Tom’s father, Ron, who woke up in the middle of the night in late 2011 with the idea. “It was getting fairly close to Christmas, and he came in and started tinkering away in our R&D shop. He came up with the idea of accomplishing the pressure relief at the zone damper itself,” Jackson said. “He’s a very focused, single-minded individual, so when he starts a project, it becomes his passion. He literally worked 80-90 hours a week on this, and it was the only thing he was doing for about six months until he got it to the place where we were ready to start producing them.”

Richard Bluestone, president, Alan Mfg., said his company is most pleased with its retrofit-style zone dampers, which can be installed in the existing ductwork without having to tear any of it out.

He said this is part of a concerted effort by the company to make this easier for the contractors installing their products, especially with wireless thermostats becoming more and more of a trend.

“We’re trying to find something that a contractor can understand easy enough to sell to the homeowner or the apartment building manager,” Bluestone said. “We’re trying to find easier products and wireless technology is making it easier.”

Dennis Laughlin, president, Arzel Zoning, believes his company is ahead of the rest with its CoolMizer, a residential economizer and fresh-air intake system.

“We pioneered a residential economizer that allows us to put some entropy controls outside, so when air conditions are proper, we can bring in outside air instead of starting equipment,” Laughlin said. “So if there’s a cool morning, and we can delay bringing on the condensing unit for a few hours, we’re saving a lot of energy. And a lot of people love fresh air, but we live in a world where nobody wants to leave their windows open, so putting the fresh-air capability back in the hands of the homeowner without having to leave a window open is a big event for them. By using the regular air movements, we’re still taking that outside air and putting it through the filtration that exists on the current system.”

The CoolMizer was inspired by those who yearned for fresher indoor air. “There was really a need to figure out how to bring in outside air,” Laughlin said. “We kept looking at what was going on commercially and asked why we couldn’t do that residentially. So we developed an adjustable damper and now have the ability to bring in a lot or a little air.”

As zoning evolves further, so will the technology, but the main principle will likely never change.

http://www.achrnews.com/articles/123278-zoning-technology-rapidly-evolving