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How Our High-Temperature Water-to-Water Geothermal Heat Pump Works

By Nordic

March 30, 2015

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Geothermal heat pumps are one of the most versatile heating and cooling technologies available, but there are two applications where they don’t shine: producing water hot enough for hot-water baseboards and completely heating domestic hot water. Sure they can preheat water for these purposes, but using a geothermal heat pump as the sole provider of hot water baseboard heat or domestic hot water isn’t feasible. Until now, that is.

To combat this limitation, we’ve designed a heat pump that takes preheated liquid and further boosts its temperature as high as 160°F (71°C). We’ve named it the high-temperature water-to-water heat pump. Let’s look at how it works and when it will be most useful.

What is a High-Temperature Water to Water Geothermal Heat Pump?

Unlike our standard water-to-water heat pump (which uses a ground loop or water well), the high-temperature water-to-water heat pump uses a preheated incoming liquid as its energy supply source. The incoming liquid must have a temperature of between 50°F (10°C) and 122°F (50°C). Typically this energy supply source is a buffer tank connected to the indoor side of a geothermal heat pump, or it could be the cooling loop from an industrial process.

The high-temperature water-to-water heat pump takes the preheated liquid and uses it to heat water as high as 160°F (71°C). It accomplishes this by using R134a refrigerant, which has a higher temperature range than traditional R410a.

Uses for High-Temperature Water to Water Heat Pump

The most common use for the high-temperature water-to-water is to heat domestic hot water in a commercial building that already uses a geothermal heat pump for space heating and cooling. You can also use this heat pump for hydronic heating in situations where a typical geothermal heat pump cannot provide hot enough water for sufficient heating. Situations like this include hot water baseboards designed for hot water from a boiler. Just remember you need to have a preheated source.

Concept and Design of the High-Temperature Water to Water Heat Pump

This project is the answer to the age-old question of how a geothermal heat pump could provide 100% of the demand for hot water in a commercial building. Our product engineer Dan Rheault designed it. Watch as he takes an in-depth look inside the machine:

Depending on the source temperature, the high-temperature water-to-water heat pump will have a coefficient of performance (COP) of between 2.5 and 6.5. This heat pump is available from 2 to 7.5 nominal tons. For larger applications, multiple units can be used in parallel, making it ideal for large commercial applications.

For more information on this heat pump, visit its product page and download the specifications. If you’re an HVAC professional, contact us directly for pricing and availability.

Learn how geothermal heat pumps can save you money on your commercial building operations by downloading our free Ebook: 6 Ways Geothermal Heating Will Benefit Your Commercial Installation.

Comments

  1. Reply

    Nancy

    April 01, 2015

    I have one of your geothermal units installed. The water inside the tank is about 85 degrees which is good I guess.. Can you tell me if there is an element inside that heats it up further before it goes over to the 80 gal. tank supplied by the power company? Thanks
    Nancy

    • Jordann Brown

      April 02, 2015

      Hi Nancy,

      None of our heat pumps have electric elements in them, except for our EMW Series.

    • Robert Murdoch

      January 31, 2018

      Hello Nancy,

      We could set this up for you with your Nordic Heat Pump. We would set it up with a dual tank system to only bring the elements on when the tank is at 85 deg…..
      Cheers,
      Rob
      416-886-3655

  2. Reply

    Wyatt

    March 14, 2019

    We are in the early stages of designing a off grid house(not entirely by choice!) we have talked about having a indoor pool for years and we’re hoping to have it in this house. The pool will be hopefully heated by solar vacuum tubes. Would there be any way of using the large pool at 85• to be the preheat side to the water to water for domestic hot water and radiant floor heat? I think for radiant floor we would be looking for roughly 115•. We are trying to find a way to make the pool and house work with minimal electrical loads. Any thoughts would be great.
    Thanks

    • Jordann Brown

      March 14, 2019

      Hi Wyatt,
      A pool would not be a sufficient source of heat for your radiant floors, even if it is heated by solar tubes.

  3. Reply

    Aditi Anand

    July 22, 2019

    Grate blog i seen ever!!
    Each and every topic are covered in this blog.
    Thanks for sharing,keep updating

  4. Reply

    Avi brown

    July 29, 2019

    Can I use municipal tap water to run this hi-temp unit? What is the temperature of tap water in NYC?

    • Jordann Brown

      July 29, 2019

      Geothermal heat pumps require a very large volume of water to extract enough heat to adequately heat your home, so most municipalities have bylaws against using their water as a source for a geothermal heat pump. That said, the minimum water temperature you’ll need is 45F, and the groundwater (for example, from a drilled well) should be warm enough to satisfy this requirement.

  5. Reply

    Jeff Brufatto

    January 29, 2020

    Hey guys, I have 2 questions.
    1, I have a drilled well that supplies water to the house already. Could this well be used to supply the water to water heat pump, yet still be used for our domestic needs?
    2, My house is 4000 up, 4000 down with a 1200sq foot garage. Will this style heat pump produce enough btu to heat a house this size?
    Thanks in advance.

    • Jordann Brown

      January 29, 2020

      Hi Jeff,
      Thanks for getting in touch! This is called an open water well and can certainly be used as a heat source for your home, provided you have sufficient water flow. This is called an open water well and you can learn more about it here: https://www.nordicghp.com/residential-heat-pumps/system-selection/energy-supply-source/
      Second, a home that size would need a larger heat pump or a series of heat pumps, but it’s common for heat pumps to be used in projects this size.

  6. Reply

    Neil Ganzer

    May 30, 2020

    I am a contractor in south central Mo. I am installing, A stair well. There are 2 poly pipes I need to move from a Geo thermal unit I need to alter. I am not familiar with this product , It seems to be welded together at the joints. My question is if I cut it can I reattach it with fernco fittings ?

    • Jordann Brown

      June 01, 2020

      Hi Neil, please call our technical support line at 1-800-986-6781 for assistance. Please note that we can only offer technical support for Nordic products.

  7. Reply

    Rahumathulla Mohamed Ibrahim

    February 22, 2021

    We need 2 Nos of water to water heat pump of thermal capacity 433KW&120KW of electrical load each. The temperature required are
    Heating side : 60C/50C
    Cooling side : 14/7C

    pls. send your quote asap.

    • Jordann Brown

      February 22, 2021

      Hi, please contact info@nordicghp.com with your request.

  8. Reply

    Matt

    August 29, 2021

    Very nice of you to respond to all of these questions.

    I am wondering if it is possible/advisable to operate a heat pump with a much higher source temperature, and if this would allow higher output temperatures?

    I am considering installing a closed loop system in a large compost pile with an internal temperature around 130 degrees f, and estimating the source water to have a temperature of approximately 100 degrees f at the heat pump.

    I would of course not expect to be able to use the heat pump to cool the structure, but wonder if this might make heating a structure even more efficient?

    Thank you

  9. Reply

    lynn taggerson

    October 19, 2021

    I have a garn woodstove with a 2000 gallon heated tank. would this tank be sufficient enough for the water source? if the tank gets up to 160 degrees and then the pump cuts off it would be the same as heating the water up with wood. my max heat on the water is 180 degrees anyway. Just looking for a back-up system to heat the water.

    • Dan Rheault

      April 08, 2022

      Hi, sorry, Jordann departed and no one checked the blog for a long time!

      The key with heat pumps is that they need to be moving heat in from outside the house (from the outside ground or outside air). So heating a tank of water by burning wood and using a heat pump to extract heat from that tank isn’t any better than just heating with wood.

  10. Reply

    Jonathan M Julien

    February 18, 2022

    With the High-Temperature heat pump what is the required inlet supply temperature for 160 DEGF heating? I am looking at a radiant ceiling application or alternatively panel radiators (such as Buderus). Typical ground temps in Denver are 50 DEGF. Would a buffer tank/water heater such as a Rheem Marathon (105 gal) work to heat the water sufficiently via a variable speed injection pump (closely spaced T’s) into the ground loop on the supply side?

    • Dan Rheault

      April 08, 2022

      Hi, sorry, Jordann departed and no one checked the blog for a while.

      Radiant ceilings should be able to use a much lower water temperature than you are suggesting; I don’t think you will need a high temp heat pump at all for that. With any hydronic heat pump, the lower the water temperature you can use, the higher your COP will be.

      It’s important to keep in mind that in order to be beneficial, a heat pump’s job is to move heat from the outdoor air or ground into your house, so it doesn’t make sense to do any heating of the ground loop water with anything other than the ground itself.

  11. Reply

    Eltjo van Cingel

    April 08, 2022

    I will have a 4 or 5 ton geothermal heat pump installed using well water. I was wondering if the “waste”water can be used to supply a man made pond? (With an overflow). What will the water temperature be when the heat pump is done with it in the summer and winter?

    • Dan Rheault

      April 11, 2022

      Hi, that’s totally possible. The discharge water will be of the same quality as taken from the well, but 5-6°F cooler.

  12. Reply

    Charles Barnard

    June 25, 2023

    I’m working on a system to store both heat and cold in insulated underground sand.

    So I need heat pumps able to deal with both very high and very low temperatures…

    Suggestions

    • Dan Rheault

      June 26, 2023

      Hi, water to water heat pumps using R410a refrigerant or similar (like the NORDIC W-series) can heat water to 120-130°F using very low source loop temp loop temperatures, below freezing. R134a heat pumps like the NORDIC WH-series can go to higher hot loop temps (to 160°F), but need a source loop temp of 45°F or higher. Hope this helps.

  13. Reply

    Raineer Properties

    September 04, 2023

    I have an inground, indoor pool of 15500 Gallons.
    That is heated to 75-80 F. by open loop well geopump. This could be upsized. Well supply is 10 to 15+ gpm.
    I have a 750 gal water heater.
    Can I use the pool as a heat sump for a high temperature heat pump that would heat up the
    water in the water heater tank to 140-160F which would be used for current radiator heating loop (closed circuit) as well as hot water? The 750 gal water tank has a water to water exchanger currently that feeds radiator system and stores domestic hot water. It has a Gas heater currently that would be used as back up only.
    I realize the pool water temp would drop in high heating load conditions.

    • Dan Rheault

      September 04, 2023

      Hi, yes, you can use a pool as a heat source for a high temp water to water heat pump, e.g. the WH-series. The main thing to check would be the water type in the pool, which will probably be outside the acceptable chlorides for standard WH source side heat exchangers and might also be too high for even optional CuNi heat exchangers (in which case a pool water to closed loop water heat exchanger would be required).

  14. Reply

    Kat

    October 30, 2023

    I am where the ambient temperature of the seawater is 50-55 degrees F.It is possible that the water source may dip down to 45 F I am interested in using a keel cooler design under a dock for geothermal heat with a closed loop system for radiant heat either through a radiator or in-floor design. I had thought to use a potable water antifreeze solution as the liquid for the closed loop system. Do you believe your system is suited for my application?

    • Dan Rheault

      November 01, 2023

      Hi, it sounds totally do-able. On the source or ground loop side, you can’t run seawater directly through the heat pump due to corrosivity and organics, so you’d need to use a water/antifreeze to sea water heat exchanger for that. Or a “Slim Jim” style submersible heat exchanger which is rated for immersion in seawater. On the indoor side, it would be normal practice to have a closed loop without antifreeze to do your in-floor heating.

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