Our approach to creating a Geothermal heating and cooling system for a new home in Minnesota.
Step #1: Phone Conversation
- The first step in the Geothermal design process for a new is a phone conversation.
- Answer any preliminary questions.
- Talk about what the goals and concerns are for their new heating & Cooling system.
- Talk about the delivery for heating, In-floor heating or forced air, forced air zoning, air quality etc.
- What their timeline requires are. When they’re scheduled to build to insure it fits in our schedule.
Step #2: Information Collection
- We ask the homeowner or builder to email a full set of blueprints and site plan.
- R-values of the insulation that will be installed.
- U-Values of the windows being installed.
- The orientation or the home or what direction the front door will face.
- Any in-floor heated areas
- Any zoning for forced air or in-floor heated areas.
- Any future down the road plans for the property. i.e. inground swimming pool etc.
Step #3: Design
- We start by reviewing the prints and site plan to determine if there is enough space on the property for a loop field.
- Once adequate space is determined, we do a heat loss heat gain calculation on the home.
- With the heating & Cooling load requirements determined we can then size the equipment needed for the home and the heating and cooling delivery. i.e. forced air & in-floor loads.
- Equipment selection is based off Btu needs for forced air loads, in-floor loads and also zoning. All this information is very important to select the right Geothermal heat pump equipment for the home.
- Once the equipment is selected, we can plug the information into our software to determine the loop field design and sizing.
- Now we can start pricing the system for the customer.
Step #4: Pricing & Proposal
- Now we can start pricing the system for the customer.
- Once the pricing is determined we can run the economics on the system to see what their annual savings will be compared to other means of heating & cooling the home.
- We will provide a detailed proposal and pricing to the customer.
- At this point the homeowner makes the decision if they’d like to move forward with the system.
Step #5: Geothermal & Mechanical System Drawings
- If they decide, they want to move forward we will then need to be in touch with the builder, truss engineer and possibly structural engineer.
- We will provide a set of duct drawings to ensure the space is designed into the trusses to allow for adequate ductwork to properly heat and cool the home
- We will provide a mechanical room drawings to ensure space is allotted for the Geothermal heating & cooling system and for adequate future serviceability.