Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc Blog : Posts Tagged ‘Geothermal Cooling’

How Does a Geothermal System Cool My Home?

Friday, June 27th, 2014

Geothermal systems are as effective at keeping a home cool as they are at keeping it warm: no matter the temperature outside your walls, using a geothermal system will bring you the comfort that you need.

Although people can easily understand why geothermal power provides warmth—the earth generates heat from its core that radiates outward where it can be harnessed—the idea of using that same power to provide cooling requires a bit of more explanation. It isn’t that much different than heating a home using geothermal power, however. We think you’ll see the immense advantages of choosing geothermal cooling in Arlington, VA so you’ll have the full benefits of heating in the winter as well.

Call Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc. if you have more questions about going geothermal. We can help you find the solution you need for year-round comfort for your family.

The operation of the geothermal heat pump

The reason that geothermal systems can heat and cool a home is that they are heat pumps. Like standard “air-source” heat pump, they move heat from one location and place it in another using the cycle of refrigerant. Unlike air-source heat pumps, which use the air as the medium for this heat exchange process, geothermal heat pumps use the ground as the medium for exchange, and the stability of underground temperatures (usually around 55°F regardless of surface weather conditions) makes them reliable and efficient.

When you turn a geothermal heat pump to cooling mode, the indoor coil acts as an evaporator: the cool refrigerant (water, in this case) extracts heat from the air and cools it down. Where does this heat go? The refrigerant removes it into a series of ground loops buried at least 6 feet in the ground. The cool 55°F assures that no matter how blisteringly hot the weather is, the heat pump will always have an easy time moving indoor heat to the ground.

When a geothermal system switches to heating mode, the process reverses, and heat come from the earth and into a home. Heat pumps are especially efficient in this mode, since no matter how ice-cold the weather gets above ground, the earth still has sufficient warmth to draw indoors.

We think that geothermal systems are a fantastic way to have the right level of comfort for your home without losing energy efficiency. But you will need to have expert installers check if geothermal cooling in Arlington, VA is a good match for your home—not every property is ideally suited to installation. Schedule an appointment with the experts at Polar Bear Air Conditioning & Heating Inc. to discover if your house is right for geothermal installation this summer.

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