Ground Source Heat Pumps | Energy Collection Methods

There are a variety of different collector methods for ground source heat pumps, each collect the earth’s stored energy, but in slightly different ways.

	Horizontal Ground Loop This is the simplest collection method and the cheapest to install, a pipe filled with a special glycol/water mix is buried in the land surrounding your property at a depth of 1 metre and spaced 1 metre apart.
	Lake loops An alternative to the ground energy collection systems is to use a lake collection system, as a deep lake holds the suns energy in the same way as the ground. These are economical to install where there is a body of water available, as there are virtually no excavation costs. The coils of pipe are anchored at the bottom of the pond or lake in a similar way to the horizontal trench method; however flowing water movement is required to achieve adequate energy collection.
	Bore Hole If there is only a limited amount of land around your property you can drill a borehole (usually around 100m deep) straight down into the earth and install a ground probe pipe. Specialist machinery is required to dig the hole. The number of boreholes required is dependant on the kW output of your heat pump.