required soil depth? > GreenBuildingTalk - Green Building Forums on Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF), Structural Insulated Panels (SIP), Radiant Heating, Geothermal Heat Pumps, Solar Power

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smartin

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Posts:12

07/01/2008 7:40 PM
I live in northeast wisconsin and we have very little soil depth before hitting bedrock. What kind of soil depth is required in my climate to make geothermal practical?

tuffluckdriller User is Offline

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Posts:378

07/02/2008 12:48 AM
manifolds should be located at least 18" below frost, and the loops should, also. We have a few EarthLinked installations where the manifold is only 2' deep with vertical bore holes. The lines are insulated, and they are still efficient, well-working systems. While it's always best to get the manifolds deeper, it still will work on an EarthLinked DX system to have them in the frost. All of the heat exchange is done typically in the bottom half of the boreholes.

Clark Timothy VP sales, Tuff Luck Geothermal Drilling Geothermal, Heating and Cooling that's Dirt Cheap!

Brock

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Posts:169

07/02/2008 10:33 AM
We are in Green Bay and we have a 10 feet deep by 250 foot field, our contractor said they like to go at least 8 feet. We were really worried when he said 10 but we made it without hitting rock.

Green Bay, WI. - geothermal heated indoor pool with a small solar setup

TechGromit User is Offline

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Posts:196

07/05/2008 1:20 AM
I'm wondering if you don't have the required depth required if you can backfill the area? Is this cost effective? If for example you can only get it 4 feet down, and the system isnt working as well as expected, would 20 truck loads of dirt solve the problem?

geodean

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Posts:523

07/05/2008 9:18 AM
Posted By TechGromit on 07/05/2008 1:20 AM would 20 truck loads of dirt solve the problem? Adding depth by adding dirt will certainly help the loop perform better. Hard to say how cost effective it would be. If you raise the loop temp by 10°, you gain about 1/2 of a point in COP.

Dewayne Dean PalaceGeothermal.com Why settle for 90% when you can have 400% We heat and cool with dirt!

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