During our initial Smart Energy Site Visit, we meet with potential clients and educate them on the functionality of Geothermal, explain how the Direct Exchange (DX) Geothermal system works, and assess whether or not it is right for their home. We then examine the property to see if installation is possible, measure out the home dimensions, including insulation, door and window sizing, and examine the attic and basement for equipment placement and retrofitting potential.
Additionally, a typical Smart Energy Site Visit includes the following steps:
Review renovation, building or existing plans to analyze the heating and cooling loads for your unique structure.
Discuss options such as domestic hot water heating, radiant heat, humidification, air cleaning and heat recovery ventilation.
Run a Heat Gain/Heat Loss Analysis to determine the required system size needed to meet all heating and cooling needs.
Finalize all expectations via contract and provide our functional end warranty for the work we recommend.
Call Ready to Dig to mark out what is already buried on the property before drilling.
Homeowner or contractor signs Digging Acceptance Form transferring digging liability to the homeowner. The homeowner accepts the locations of all holes to be drilled.
Drill one 100-foot hole or two 70-foot, 3 inch diameter holes per ton of AC or 12,000 BTU/hr of heat required. The average home requires 8 to 10 holes. These holes are drilled on a diagonal, and are places 10 inches apart in a 6-foot diameter circle. If you could view the loop field from underground it would look like a metal octopus. (It takes approximately one hour to drill a 70-foot hole in solid rock.)
Copper tubing (3/8" and 1/4") is placed in each bore hole. The tubing is brazed at the bottom of the loop so that the two lines of copper are continuous. (If you blow air into either the 3/8" or the 1/4" tubing at the surface, you will feel the air come out the other tube.)
The holes are then grouted with Super Grout, leaving the ground in a state that is most similar to its predrilled condition.
All the copper lines are brazed to two separate manifolds that make the system continuous, or what is called a closed loop. These manifolds sit approximately three feet below the surface and are marked with a small drain cap that leads to the manifolds with drainage tubing.
A trench is dug to the house where the line sets are placed. These line sets sit approximately two to three feet from the surface.
The line sets are connected to the manifolds and pressure tested at the foundation wall of the house.
The compressor assemblies we use are then handed off to various HVAC companies we work with to complete the interior work.
The HVAC work includes, ductwork, air handler installation, compressor assembly connections to the loop field and the air handlers, direct exchange hook-ups for both domestic hot water and radiant flooring. The HVAC companies also install all low-voltage wiring to thermostats. Homeowners' licensed electricians install all other wiring.
Call Smart Energy today at (914) 960-1424 to set up a Site Visit and review your project requirements.
