Do ground source heat pumps work as well in the desert as other places?

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I am fascinated by ground source heat pumps and wonder if they work as well in the desert as in other locations. I can't seem to find a lot of info about this on the web. I don't think they are widely used in my area (palm springs) so perhaps they are not as effective? Considering the extreme temperature swings and cost of air conditioning and pool heating, I'd think that people would jump all over them if they were a lot more effective than other methods of heating and cooling.



What we have is a large swimming pool that is too cold during several months of the winter and then is too hot during a few months of summer. In addition, two very large air conditioning units run a lot during the summer, and we require heating for the house during parts of the winter.

It sure would be nice if we could put all of this into a heat pump system so we could move the abundant heat around to where we want it while saving a lot of money at the same time. Currently, we don't heat the pool very often due to the tremendous cost. So I'm interested in stabilizing the pool at a comfortable temperature AND taking care of house heating and cooling without spending more money than we do now on our power bill.

Perhaps we could get enough electric solar panels to offset the heat pump usage. We could also add some water based solar panels into the system if that would help though I wonder if they would sit unused during the hotter months of the year.

One last note -- if we find that we need to dissipate some of the heat during the hottest months, we could potentially keep the spa heated a number of hours during the day, and maybe even try to increase the pool temperature at night while removing heat during the day.

Thanks in advance for any commentary or insight you can provide!

Comments

  1. golgafrincham says:
    August 8, 2009 at 11:00 am

    Yes, they are effective in the desert, but are not widely used due to the expense of installing them in what tends to be exceptionally difficult soils to break through. Unlike another answerer says, the 2-meter (6 feet) rule is NOT global, and the desert regions often need to be excavated 10 or more meters (30-ish feet). So…if a house is to use a ground source heat pump, the ground loop usually has to be installed at the same time the dirt work for the foundation is being done (or, in your case, when the pool was excavated), because you will need to use the same heavy equipment to break the caliche layer…and god forbid the cost of excavating if you have baserock near the surface.

    As for your pool, heating it in winter would be much cheaper and faster done by passive solar. There should be lots of services in the Palm Springs area that can do this for you. Also, look into pool covers or even pool rings, which can keep the pool a few degrees warmer.

    Cooling is trickier, but there are a couple simple evaporative cooling methods. The simple and cheape way is large, low speed fans blowing over the surface 24/7, good for several degrees. If you have money to burn, then water walls or fountains that simply flow and pour the water through the air and recirculate the pool: these cost a lot to install, use a lot of electricity, need much more maintenance, don’t cool any more than fans, but provide ambiance and beauty. After that, you move to standard heat pumps (remember a heat pump is nothing but a reversible A/C), which basically means refrigerator coils running throughout your pool plumbing or built into the pool walls — the costs are astonomical, both upfront and throughout the lifecycle.

  2. guru says:
    August 8, 2009 at 11:00 am

    Yes there are such systems.
    These people are in this business
    http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=turcotte+heat+pump&meta=&aq=0&oq=turcotte+heat

    Look also
    http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=geothermal+heat+pumps&meta=&aq=0&oq=geothermal+heat+pump

    Hope this properly answers your question

    Guru

  3. i plead the fifth says:
    August 8, 2009 at 11:00 am

    heat pumps work better in desert there is a point at which the temp is too low for the heat pump to work efficiently

  4. Bob says:
    August 8, 2009 at 11:00 am

    Ground Source essentially means taking advantage of the world-wide year round constant temperature of the earth at 2 meters below ground level. It is 15 C (59 F). This reservoir is frequently used (UK is a good example) to cool air in the summer and heat air in the winter for a significant energy savings in an air conditioning/heating system. Essentially, ducting first pulls air through the ground first before it enters the system.

  5. George says:
    August 8, 2009 at 11:00 am

    The environment above ground doesn’t really matter. Ground source heat pumps use the constant tempature that is under the ground. Here is an explanation of how it works http://geothermalexperts.net/residential_systems.html
    It can be used for everything you need, including heating your pool. If you used it to heat and cool your house it would actually save you on your energy use.

  6. Violet W says:
    August 8, 2009 at 11:00 am

    golgafrincham gave an excellent answer. I will add that pool solar collectors that heat the pool in the winter can be run at night to cool the pool in the summer. They emit black body radiation out to space at night. This commonly is done in Florida. Solar controllers with a cooling mode as well as a heating mode are readily available.

    Using pool solar collectors and a solar cover are two of the most cost-effective ways of heating (and cooling) your pool.

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