First Day of Spring... Geothermal Heat Pump

I must admit that I've been more than a little slack about getting some posts on here. So with the first day of spring here, I thought I had better mention our new geothermal  heat pump, that we are really happy with.

We put the loop in the week after Labour Day last September. 3000 feet of pipe, in 4 runs, so our trench was 750 feet long. Almost to the mailbox, and halfway back. They are filled with water and 25% methyl hydrate. When we tested it in January, the water coming in was 35 F., and going out was 29 F. so we were getting 6 F. out to heat the house. How you ask? Not sure, but it works. 40 cents per hour of run time, so like 4 bucks a day. Gotta love it.

Grass looks pretty green doesn't it? The heat pump sat on our back step for awhile, then in the basement for awhile, but we waited patiently, and we finally had it going on October 31. And we got the field all leveled out and ready for seeding with this years spring work. Which might be coming sooner than we think, with this warm weather.

Not so green today, huh?
The same day as we started the loop, we also joined the ranks of farmers that pay a lot of money for sawdust. After spending the summer running all over the country with our dump trailer behind the truck looking for sawdust, we paid $1500 for a tractor trailer load. And $1700 for one since then. For sawdust. Keep that in mind the next time you cut a board and sweep the sawdust into the garbage.