Ground Source Heat Pumps: One Unit, Two Solutions

Geothermal heat pumps cool your home in the summer and heat it in the winter

A heat pump that cools? It may sound counter-intuitive but a geothermal heat pump system can both heat and cool your home efficiently while benefiting the environment. Behind the technical jargon, geothermal system uses a simple idea of transferring air from the ground to adjust your home’s temperature.  By transferring air underground, geothermal heating system can cool your home in the summer and heat it in the winter.

The temperature just below the earth’s surface in North American stays relatively constant throughout the whole year. On average the ground temperature below the frost line remains around 55 degree, however it varies between the geographic locations. In the winter, the outside air is often cooler than the air underground which means it takes far less energy to heat air that is 55 degrees to 70 degrees than it is to heat air that is 15 degrees to 70 degrees.  When the temperature in your home is less than the temperature below frost line, geothermal system can act as a heating pump by transferring and delivering the warm air from underground to heat your home.

Can geothermal heat pump also cool my home? How exactly does it work?

When it is 90 degrees outside and your home feels like a sauna, the temperature below the ground is still approximately 55 degrees.  A geothermal heat pump can transfer the cold air underground to make your room more comfortable. For example, if the natural room temperature is 85 degree in the summer, using geothermal heat pump can cool the room by transferring the warm air with the 55 degree cold air underground. Geothermal heat pump does not use energy to generate heat or reduce temperature, it uses the electrical energy it consumes to transfer the natural air underground to warm and cool the room temperature.