I am interested in a open loop geo water/air heat pump.
My current natural gas unit needs updating and since I seen one of these locally installed using the potable well on the property i became very interested and want to learn more !

I always thought you had to have a large pond or lake to utilize geo thermal, but a well with lots of water i have. I should say i have never run out of water.

The one i saw had what looked like two trane furnaces in the basement, they draw well water from the property, somehow utilize the 52 degree water and then the water was returned to another well casing on the property, the homeowner said it worked perfectly and he has a very small utility bill (he did not say how much it was).

MY HOUSE IS 2300 SF AND LOCATED IN NE OHIO, I CURRENTLY HEAT AND COOL WITH A CONVENTIONAL NATURAL GAS 100,000 BTU FURNACE AND 3 TON A/C UNIT

I BELIEVE MY LEAST EXPENSIVE OPTION TO BE A GEO WATER/AIR USUNG MY CURRENT WELL. BUT I DO NOT KNOW IF IT IS MY BEST OPTION.

DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A CONTRACTOR IN MY AREA TO CONTACT ?

I HAVE ABOUT 2 VERY WOODED ACRES AND THOUGHT TRENCHING WOULD BE DIASTEROUS.

SO DO I NEED TO HAVE MY WELL TESTED FOR QUALITY WATER AS WELL AS QUANTITY (I GUESS THIS IS MY FIRST STEP?)

AS YOU CAN SEE I HAVE NO IDEA OF WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR.
ARE THESE THINGS REALLY 400% EFFICIENT ?

I really want to know all about this type of HVAC and am hoping to learn alot right here.

Thank you and glad to have found this site.

Jack

You need to test that water for quality and quantity, AND get an accurate load calculation on the home. That would then tell you if the quantity is sufficient.

OK , what kind of quality and how much quantity do we need ? I know a well driller and he probably knows what is needed, but could you elaborate on minimums ?
Thank you !

Generally, you're looking for 3-4 gpm per ton of heating/cooling needed. How many tons do you need? Don't know? That's where the load calculation comes in.

As for the quality of the water, make sure it's very pure. Otherwise you'll have a maintenance headache.

As far as water quality is concerned, is it possible to filter / condition the water ecomonically enough if it's not ideal purity? I did the calculations once to use city water, but it came in at around a $300 a month water bill.

That's a question for others here on the forum. I really don't like open loops because of the maintenance I've seen with them. I don't know of a good enough/economically feasible filtration system for you to use for this.

Ok, I need to know what to test for, I know the list of things to test for is very long and the lab is just 10 min. up the road. But , they are going to ask "what are we testing for?"
So my answer needs to be corrosive, hardness, Ph, all of these or more?
What part or parts of the system are effected, what materials are they ?
Even if your water is fed by a natural spring it is going to have some impurities in it right.

I'd like to know this too.  Lot's of "information" on open loops on the web, with the disclaimer "your installer will have to test the water to see if it's suitable".  Can't find much on actual concentration cutoffs, pH's etc that make it suitable/unsuitable.  Have found some information that low Ph, high iron and high manganese are bad, but not what's considered high. I assume the manufacturers/installers have this information somewhere, I just can't find it.

BM99

Couldn’t you just lay the "loop" in the water? That would avoid the contamination from the water and still give you a much better heat transfer then loop to ground. Or even if you had to pump it, pump it to say a pond or holding tank with the loop field in it. I would think the “look” could be much smaller in a water to water situation?