The power to cool your home can come from right beneath your feet: the heat of the earth provides a renewable, efficient, and clean source of energy that you can harness with a geothermal heat pump. Like any heat pump, a geothermal model can provide you with both heating and cooling, whatever you need during the year.

If you would like to take advantage of the many benefits of a geothermal heat pump, contact our staff today to get started.

At Cowboys Air Conditioning & Heating, we offer comprehensive service for installation, repair, and maintenance when it comes to geothermal cooling in San Antonio, TX.

How geothermal cooling works

The basic principle behind cooling with a geothermal heat pump is the same as that of a regular (or “air-source”) heat pump. The heat pump circulates refrigerant through the system, absorbing heat in one location, and then releasing it in another. When in cooling mode, the heat pump’s refrigerant absorbs heat from the inside of a house and then removes it from the house to release it. Heating mode reverses the direction, and the refrigerant releases the heat into the house. This process is called heat exchange.

However, where the geothermal system differs is that it uses a different medium for heat exchange than a standard heat pump. Instead of using the air for both absorption and release of heat, a geothermal heat pump uses the earth for half of the process, which is why geothermal systems are sometimes called “ground-source” heat pumps.

The outside section of a geothermal heat pump isn’t an outdoor coil, but a set of plastic loops buried at least 10 feet into the ground. The refrigerant in the system (water or a solution of water and anti-freeze) runs through these coils to absorb or release heat. In heating mode, the loops draw heat from the ground, and in cooling they deposit heat into the ground.

Because the earth 10 feet below the surface maintains a steady temperature of approximately 55°F, the heat pump always has a reliable source for the exchange. No matter how hot it is outside, the system has a cooler location to release the heat to cool the indoors. No matter how cold it is outside, the system has a warmer location to draw heat to warm the indoors. This makes geothermal systems both reliable and energy efficient.

Call today to find out more

If there’s one major drawback to geothermal cooling and heating, it’s that not every property is suitable for it. You need to have sufficient space for the loops and deep enough soil. Call Cowboys Air Conditioning & Heating today and talk to our professionals with experience installing geothermal cooling in San Antonio, TX. They can answer your questions and set up an appointment to find out if a geothermal heat pump is your best option for cooling and heating your home.

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