When it comes to installing a geothermal system, you should know how to size your system so that it fits properly. However, you can take help from a local professional contractor for sizing your project.
How Do You Size a Geothermal System for New Construction?
While building a new house, your builder, designer or architect will do the heat load or heat demand calculation for you. Calculating heat load determines the energy loss your home will experience as per the exterior dimensions and insulation used in your home and number of windows. After that, build design parameters are used in the software. This application uses your geographic weather data to calculate the coldest day in average. Then, you will know the minimal size of heater through the software that you need to maintain the comfort level in the house as per the average coldest day.
Rest assured that, your builder will do this for you. If you’ve built your building as per your own plans, you are fortunate. Just Google “Free Heat Demand Calculators”. Even, you will find Free Calculator Apps on Apple and Android. Even if you don’t get exact heat demand calculation, you can buy a backup strip heater at $500. It can be installed in your duct to help your heat pump during extreme weather conditions. If the calculation is close to the exact size, then it will be fine. But never oversize your geothermal system as your compressor will shorten the cycle. Hence, it’s clear that bigger isn’t better for you. It’s suggested to run your system continuously and provide balanced amount of heat rather than turning off constantly if you’re using an oversized system.
How Do You Size a Geothermal System for Old Construction?
Sizing an old construction is easier than a new construction as you have been using a heater. It will help you know the right size of geothermal system. While sizing the unit, it’s assumed that heat demand study was done. Most old buildings assumed that bigger is better option.
If you make an assumption that your existing heater is sized properly, you can use 1 ton = 12,000 BTU = 3.5 KW to calculate the size of the new geothermal system. Again you can ask your neighborhood homes that are built at the same time with similar construction about the operation of their geothermal system. If they have right size system, feel free to ask the sq ft area of their houses.
It will help you make comparisons on what you need based on your house size. You should never waste heat. Your geothermal contractor will suggest you bring your house to standard insulation value. It’s better to choose R20 in the walls and R-40 in the ceiling with good quality windows. It’ll be a good investment and should be done prior to looking for alternative heat sources including solar and geothermal systems.
Bottom Line – If you want to invest in geothermal systems, you should look no further than 123 Zero Energy. We specialize in providing a comprehensive range of easy to install geothermal systems and kits for homeowners, contractors, and builders. For more information about our packages, feel free to contact us as soon as possible at 1-800-317-9054.
