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Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:45 pm
by digerjones
sorry about pics 
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 10:57 pm
by lutonlagerlout
pics are fine mate
considering the huge increase in gas and electric pricing i feel that this may be a way forward for new build ,especially in the countryside
i hear the installation costs can be quite high though,20k was a figure that was bandied about?
LLL
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:15 pm
by digerjones
think my price was 3 or 4 k for the groundwork. on 1 i installed the pipe on the other i did not. pipe is only 70mm plastic pipe, think the heat pump machine is dear. you are proberly right with that price for the whole system. dont know if i would bother myself, by the time you have insulated the house to the required amount and made the house totally air tight, a wood burner would proberly do it.
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 11:25 pm
by digerjones
heres my stove
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 8:19 am
by haggistini
i have seen these done by drilling down very deep bore holes to heat a very large garage and property cant think of the firms name now therma....something i would think you would need a bit of land with your property to install this type of heating 
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 8:24 am
by seanandruby
It is the way forward for heating etc: It is expensive for joe public because you have to drop a bore hole a long way down depending on area. The last one we did went down 30 metres and about 20 bore holes. then you have the bentonite which is a specialist application, horrible sticky, messy job to fill the borehole. We use a lot of crushed glass to back fill also. On one job the geotech' boys smashed through all the new pipework i'd installed, the grout filled everything, pipes, manholes, catchpits even the interceptor tank. It was a shitty job to replace everything and i stank for weeks :p Ialso went down a borehole as we were digging and just managed to spread my arms across till the machine driver pulled me out...airy.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:00 am
by haggistini
close call there sean.....
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:58 am
by GB_Groundworks
Lucky escape there Sean reyt bum clincher haha priced a few but they've always not gone when they work out the full cost. One neighbour with a big south facing steep field had one installed. But as it was a steep field facing the sun they scraped off about 2 foot of top soil with d6 then laid pipe in flat spirals then covered over again.
Thing with it is once it in it's in for good stove has to be fed with wood, wood has to be bought or collected or cut stored etc so has a cost implication. Where's ground source or air source heat pumps just use the sun. Think we will install one when we rebuild family farm as have a large south facing field behind the house.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:59 am
by Tommy
They are currently setting up the main drilling rig on campus. Having found sufficient supplies, they are confident that the whole university can be totally energy self sufficient by 2014.
Will try to get some pictures when I'm next down that way.
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:44 am
by seanandruby
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:33 am
by lutonlagerlout
I have a feeling giles that it is nothing to do with the sun,the heat that is being extracted is residual heat in the ground,once you are below the frost line I.E. 1 m then there is an element of warmth in the ground
you still need electricity to run these things but not sure if i want to spend 20 grand to save 100 quid a month on my bills
cheers LLL 
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 12:03 pm
by mickg
I had a very interesting conversation regarding this a few years ago whilst on a weekend away in Barcelona, the guys from the US dig horizontal and lay the pipes in a trench while in Denmark they bore down in the earth
the earth is always 62 degrees so if you want to increase the heat in your home you only have to heat the difference to what temperature you require
Last October I block paved a new driveway on a new build and the guy had built a timber framed bungalow what was very eco friendly and he had done his homework on this form of heating system and was told by a couple of companies that its not cost effective to install this type of system due to the additional costs involved over and above a conventional heating system when your paying for all the ground work and pipe installation and not doing any of that part yourself, it can take 10 - 15 years to recoup your costs
sadly this eco friendly stuff is not always the way forward when it comes down to your overall cost to carry out the work
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 2:05 pm
by haggistini
This I my eco burner made from recycled gas bottle and other stuff it cooks a great steak and welsh cakes on the top hot plate too!!
Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 2:53 pm
by digerjones
hell fire haggie, my front room looks a bit tidyer than yours. 
. think the geo stuff is like the opposite to a fridge. the water thats circulates round the system is very cold after its been through heat exchanger and will freeze pipes and drains close to the kit. so the ground absorbs the coldness of the water bringing it up to temp. i am no expert and dont fully understand it realy.
