Product Description

* Introduces basic theory and reviews a wide variety of available heat pump models
* Will put any installer, engineer or architect in the position to design, select and install a domestic geothermal heat pump system

Geothermal Heat Pumps is the most comprehensive guide to the selection, design and installation of geothermal heat pumps available. This leading manual presents the most recent information and market developments in order to put any installer, engineer or architect in the position to design, select and install a domestic geothermal heat pump system. Internationally respected expert Karl Ochsner presents the reasons to use heat pumps, introduces basic theory and reviews the wide variety of available heat pump models. Expertly reviewed and adapted for the most geographically broad application possible, the book offers the reader valuable tips for planning and system control using data, graphics and tables from a growing and innovative market.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #534534 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 166 pages

Review
"'Karl Ochsner is someone whose pedigree in the heat pump industry is beyond question' Richard Freeborn, Kensa Engineering, UK"

About the Author
Karl Ochsner founded the Ochsner Heat Pump Company in 1978 to become one of the first European industrial producers in this field. He is president and shareholder of the corporation.

Robin Curtis is Technical Manager for EarthEnergy Ltd, part of the GeoScience Group. He has been promoting and developing the introduction of geothermal heat pumps into the UK market since 1992.

Customer Reviews

Not useful for DIY install
I bought this book thinking it would be helpful with a geothermal heating system I was planning to install. The book appears to be no more than a translated product guide for various models of geothermal heat pumps that the author manufactures in Germany. There were some useful equations for various heat calculations but nothing really all that useful. I returned the book.

Excellent Broad Coverage of Geothermal Technical Issues
I have been installing Water Furnace heat pumps for the past eight years. When attending a software training class for integrated systems with geothermal, I found this book at the company. While the author does present his own products as the primary references for systems, the concepts and application are very well explained. From experience, the information is accurate and leading edge. Not just theory, but practical applications from working in with the technology for decades. While the theory may be beyond the DIY installer of geothermal (which I would not recommend anyway), it is accurate and highly relevant to the field today. In the unlikely event that you wish to move heat from the barnyard to the house, I found fascinating (and true, I kid not), charts of how many BTUs per cow you can get in energy output for thermal collectors located in the stable.

Highly recommend for your library.

Geothermal Heat Pumps - unfortunately all written in METRIC.
I had been looking for a good reference book on geothermal heat pumps, where you can extract "heat" from the earth to heat your home. It's based on the same principal as refrigeration. Plastic water pipes are buried under the frost line (6-8 ft. down). An antifreeze solution is circulated thru the pipes back to the basement where a refrigeration unit extracts "heat" (BTUs) from the fluid. The geothermal unit puts it into the home either as hot water or hot air. Hot water can be fed thru heat exchangers like radiators & radiant heated floors. Or hot air can be used in the house through a conventional system of ductwork. The same system can do the reverse process in the summer, and cool the home.

For every dollar of electricity you use to run the goethermal unit, your return in BTUs (heat) is 4x (400%) the energy you put into it. The U.S. government will give homeowners a 30% tax credit for any installations that are "water-to-air" systems, installed beginning 1-1-09. Another method is to use a private well, pump water from it at 50 F. into the refrigeration unit, extract "heat" from it, and return the same water back to the well at 42 F. The chilled water is piped down to the bottom of say a 600 ft. well, and the pump picks up the water at 50 ft. from the surface. So the chilled water has 1150 feet to move before it is picked up again by the pump. By the time it reaches the pump it has heated up to 50 F. and the cycle runs continuously. This book is very informative, but at $95. priced too high I feel, and unfortunately is written all in metric dimensions, metric formulas, metric heat concepts, so was impractical to apply to use in the United States. If the Border's Bookstore had included that vital "METRIC throughout" comment in their review I would not have bought it. There isn't much out on geothermal, so I ended up doing all of my research on the Internet. We're installing a geothermal unit in our new home this summer. You can buy it on Amazon.com for $77.59 if you speak METRIC. Geothermal Heat Pumps: A Guide for Planning and Installing