up:: Systems MOC
owner:: @Niko

Meta

intent: living-doc
llm: update-in-place
scope: team

Geothermal well + closed-loop systems heating the house and pool/spa. Includes future automation plans (ESP32 sensors, smart relays).

Geothermal System

La Finka is powered by the earth. Learn more about it below including some ideas of how we can expand this system.

Related Projects:

Well Specifications

The Geothermal System

There are two closed loop systems tied to the geothermal well in operation. One which is running 24/7 to heat the house, and the other is triggered when heat is in demand for the pool or hot tub.

The Schematic
img_diagram_geothermal.png

I. The House System

The core system provides heat to the house which is in turn providing hot water at our faucets, as well as two air handlers zones containing. This is a highly efficient system keep our house warm all winter.

This is done by running a circulator pump 24/7 that takes circulates city water from the house through copper pipes ~ out, down the well and back up (like a trombone), and then back to the house. The heat transfers from the well, through the copper pipe and into the flowing water effectively raising the temperature so that we have 132º heat source to pull from in the house.

During winter, the furnaces are turned on and tied into thermostats of the house. When the temperature drops below 72 in the house, this triggers an additional circulator pump to run, pulling hot water from the main line through two heat exchangers (liquid to air) in our air handlers which contains a blower. This hot air is blown through our duct system keeping our house warm. All winter we can stay warm, by running a total of 3 circulator pumps, and 2 blowers. Pretty nifty huh?

II. Pool / Spa System & Off-Pump

Deep down in our well at around ~140ft you'll find a motor driving a pump. This is the off-pump which effectively pumps water out of the top of the well, in turn driving the hotter water from below to rise up, effectively raising the temperature of the well. There are a few things that would trigger this pump to run.

A. We need to increase the temperature of the well
There is an aqua-stat on the main house that can set the temperature of the line. If for some reason the temperature drops below, it will trigger the off pump, raising the temp of the well and then the operating temperature of our main line.

B. Spa Time / Pool Time
There are additional aqua-stats on each of the pool & spa filtration lines. When we want to heat the pool or the spa, the off-pump kicks on pumping well water out of the ground and through in-line heat exchangers for the hot tub and then the pool, before dumping the water back in to the earth.

Future Improvements

Control System

It took a moment to get this system back up & running after the previous estate handing it over in disrepair. Thankfully we tracked down the original engineer who designed it to answer a few of the questions needed to finalize the schematic and get it back up & running.

However, It is currently a bit hacky & manual at this time. I love pulling a big red lever, but some automation goes a long way. We are hoping to update the electronic control system and add some sensors so we can have realtime monitoring of temperature and pump states. We are planning on doing this using relay controls & ESP32 boards.

Temp Sensors
Sensor - AD DS18B20

Pump Status & Power Consumption
Smart Relay - Shelly 1 Plus PM

Geothermal Greenhouse

ToDo:: Write brief on geothermal greenhouse & Link to it's own page.