Foundation heat exchangers for residential ground source heat pump systems
Foundation heat exchangers utilize the excavation made for a house basement to significantly reduce the cost of the ground heat exchanger used with a ground source heat pump system. This paper reports on results from two test houses and several simulation-based design and energy analysis tools. The test houses, in eastern Tennessee, had seasonal system coefficients of performance of 3.6 for heating and 4.2 for cooling utilizing water-to-air heat pumps. Domestic water heating was also provided using dedicated water-to-water heat pumps. Experimentallyvalidated design and energy calculation tools are now available.