Geothermal in power trench...Doable or Not?

[eepete]

I was thinking separate trench project. So if you did 5 250 foot long trenches with 500 feet of pipe in each, you could dig each one to 1 foot wide, lay in the bottom pipe, fill with 2' and then fill the trench. Eventually, you'd have all the pipes in your manifold pit. It breaks the project up into 5 pieces. And you get to put them close to where the house will be.

Have you or someone you know tried to dig down six feet? Around here, it was mostly OK but there was a vein of rock we hit where the lines came up to about 3' below ground for about 8 feet. I think part of the planing stage is making sure you can dig that deep without a problem.

With a trench that deep, it will take 2 years for everything to settle out. But that might work out well with the future house, as you'll have to landscape/clean up around it after that "little project" is done.

Pete

 

[BAGTIC]

If you are using a DX geothermal system with copper tubing you should never have any problems. They have been in use 30+ years with not leakage problems. I don't know about the circulating water systems.

5-6 feet deep is the recommended depth. What is the ground temperature at those depths in your area? I believe heat pumps can operate down to about 40 degrees though anything higher is a bonus and more efficient.