Just Geothermal Systems - Movies

Videos are can be viewed in QuickTime™ –
Geothermal Exchange Systems
Animated movie produced by the Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium that targets the consumer and explains how the heat transfer process takes place in a geothermal heating and cooling system. 4.5 MB.

NEW! Vertical Earth Loop using new sonic drilling rig.(32 MB H.264)

Pond Loop Installation
Assembly and floating out a "foot print layout" 6 ton pond loop near Stouffville, Ontario. 6.0 MB.

Sinking a 6 Ton Pond Loop
Positioning the 6 ton loop mats in the deepest part of this pond required extending main pipes 200 ft. around a small island to the deepest part of the pond before sinking. 30.9 MB.

The same pond heating the home in December
The pond shown in the previous videos looks quite beautiful, covered in a blanket of fresh snow. It's a sunny day just after the first real snowfall of December 2002. The pond is completely frozen over. The geothermal system is heating the home without using any auxiliary heat source. There is no visible evidence of Loop Mats sitting on the bottom of the pond exchanging heat with the pond water. 8.5 MB.

4 Pipe Horizontal Earth Loop Installation
Short version. 1.5 min excerpt from 4 pipe movie below. 964 Kb.

4 Pipe Horizontal Loop Installation Movie
A 4 pipe horizontal loop installation near Oak Ridges, Ontario. Hi-resolution video 20.1 MB.

Drilling for a Vertical Loop Installation
Close to downtown Toronto, Ontario.

Six 240 ft. deep holes were drilled in the front yard of the property. Two 1.25 in. dia. pipes connected with a U-Bend at the bottom end were inserted into each hole.

Drilling conditions were sand for the first 22 ft. then shale mixed with hard chirt for the rest of the way.

The video shows several stages of the drilling process including slowly drilling to the wet zone, (where groundwater starts to occur in the rock), and developing and stabilizing the hole by washing the walls with ground water which builds up a natural mud wall. High speed drilling with air follows and the final scene shows the hole being slowly being washed to remove any mud and debris from the hole. This makes it easier to insert the heat exchanger.

The driller used a mud rotary technique at first and the first hole was completed in this manner but the sand overburden proved to be very unstable and was collapsing into the hole on the next hole. Subsequent holes were drilled to the shale and temporarily cased with retrievable PVC. Drilling with compressed air inside the casing followed and we easily drilled the rest of our 240 ft. holes in about 4 1/2 hours each.

Vertical loops are by far the most technically challenging type of geothermal installation. Success relies almost entirely upon the skill of the driller, who has to drill holes of sufficient depth with hole walls that stay open long enough to insert the heat exchanger pipes without collapsing.

Unlike water wells, permanent casing is not generally used to stabilize the hole is often stabilized with only drilling mud or the drilling cuttings themselves mixed with water. This is why geothermal drilling does not cost as much as water well drilling.

The viewer should note that sites become quite muddy because the drilling process uses a lot of water and cuttings from the hole and bentonite mud have to be disposed of. 4.0 MB.

Sinking a 6 ton parallel circuit Pond Loop in real time serif">
Near Orangeville, Ontario.

Three loops, 9.5 tons, 5 tons and 6 tons were installed in a kidney shaped pond 280' x 110'. The water depth varies from 8' one end to 35' the other.

The video shows the last of the three loops sinking in real time and it illustrates quite clearly, how simple it is handle large heat exchangers in a pond if they are built well.

The viewer should note the importance of header design to air purging which is even more important in a pond loop because even flow rates results in even weight distribution between the circuits. With even weight distribution, a pond loop will sink without twisting as long as it is clear below. 19.1 MB.

Water to Air (Ducted) Open Loop Geothermal System Movie
Open Loop unit using a flowing well as the heat source and heat sink near Cambridge, Ontario. Discharge of the water is to a pond that handles the overflow from the well. 1.0 MB.

Water to Air (Ducted) Closed Loop Geothermal System Movie
Closed Loop unit operating on a pond loop near Oakland, Ontario. 3.8 MB.

Water to Water (Hydronic) Geothermal System Movie
Operating hydronic geothermal system. Radiant Floor Heat is main heat distribution method. Forced Air Ductwork provides 2nd stage heating on very cold days and also cooling from water coil chilled by the GSHP unit. 1.4 MB.

Ductwork Installation

Difficult ductwork retrofit installation
Ductwork retrofit into 3 ft. crawlspace. Time consuming installation because the mechanic has little room to maneuver ductwork into place and must work a lot of the time on his knees or back. 3.4 MB.

Underground ductwork installation
Indoor pool dehumidification system ductwork is installed below basement slab around the concrete shell of an indoor pool.

Trenches are dug of sufficient depth to allow complete encasement of spiral ductwork in concrete. Ductwork is completely tarred over before encasement and graded away from pool towards the Mechanical Room, providing drainage of condensation to the lowest point where an access cover will be provided for clean out. 5.6 MB.

Radiant Floor Heat Installation

Radiant Floor Heat (RFH) – Bekotec™ Nipple Board and EPS Floor Insulation
According to the Ontario Building Code, to prevent heat loss to the ground, when heating basements or slabs-on-grade using Radiant Floor Heat, the pipe should always be lain above a layer of insulation. Minimum rating R8.

The RFH pipes have to then be attached to the floor in someway above the insulation that allows the installer to implement the designer's piping pattern.

Various types of insulation products and pipe attachment methods have been developed over the years and the best we have seen to date is the Bekotec Nipple Board system over tongue and groove EPS.

General contractors have difficulty in completely leveling a gravel floor. With a rigid insulation such as the most commonly used 2" extruded Styrofoam SM, there are always many small voids and gaps beneath the insulation. In practice it is inevitable that rigid foam will crack and break in many places just from the pipe installation itself and during the concrete pour.

A high density EPS is better suited to the riggors of laying RFH pipe over gravel in basements. Although the R value of EPS is around R4 per inch instead of R5 per inch for extruded foam, the combination of EPS and Bekotec nipple board surpasses the minimum RFH floor insualtion requirements of the Ontario Building Code. 6.1 MB.

Bekotec Nipple Board as manufactured by Schluter® Systems, may at first appear to be an insulation and RFH pipe attachment system in one but, it is a product that actually solves several of the engineering problems associated with the preparation of floors for RFH and the laying of the pipe itself. Laid above a 6 mil. vapour barrier and over 2" of EPS, it forms a very tight, strong and insulated R11.2 sub-floor that can contain the major stresses associated with concrete shrinkage. Imported to Canada from Germany, Schluter® Systems has a full range of specialty products designed to help solve problems associated with Radiant Heated Floors.

Radiant Floor Heat (RFH) – Basement Floor Insulation
To prevent heat loss to the ground, Radiant Floor Heating pipe should always be lain above a layer of insulation when installing in a basement floor.

R10 Tongue and Groove High Density rigid Styrofoam™ was placed on top of 4" of gravel and taped in place. The complexity of the floor shape and the number of floor penetrations for various services increases the time required to install a tight layer of insulation.

Less styrofoam breakage will occur if extra care is taken during the leveling of the gravel base. The styrofoam will then sit as flat as possible on the gravel. 1.2 MB.

Radiant Floor Heat (RFH) – Basement Floor Track
REHAU Raufix Track is pinned to the styrofoam in a pre-determined pattern. The RFH pipe is suspended by the track above the foam. Concrete can completely surround the pipe, maximizing heat transfer from the pipe into the mass of the concrete radiant floor panel. 6.3 MB

Radiant Floor Heat (RFH) – Pipe Installation Using Raufix Track
REHAU Pro-Balance Manifolds are attached to walls and/or to temporary mounts so that the RFH pipe can be worked out to the respective patterns and back to the manifolds.

Pipe is often laid in a "Double Helix" pattern as shown in the video. This pattern always routes a warm supply pipe next to a cooler return pipe. The result is a more even temperature across the floor when compared with a serpentine, (up and down) pattern, where the floor can become measurably cooler as the pipe travels across it.

Pipe spacing will vary depending upon the following:

Heat Loss of the room
Perimeter or centre of the floor
Eventual floor covering
Room height
Obstacles over radiant panel such as stairs

6.3 MB.

Radiant Floor Heat (RFH) – Laying the Concrete
Concrete is either brought in by wheel barrow or pumped into the basement to surround the RFH pipe and to become the heating surface area for the basement.

Care should be taken when moving heavy pipes and also with raking the cement, so as not to damage the pipes.

Note that plastic sleeves protect the RFH pipes where they penetrate the basement floor. Some pipe expansion takes place due to the varying temperature of the heating fluid inside the pipe. 8.7 MB.

Radiant Floor Heat (RFH) – Dried Concrete Floor
Concrete floor has dried. Shows areas adjoining the indoor pool, floor penetrations and manifolds above the floor. 5.0 MB.

Radiant Floor Heating (RFH) pipe over-pour
Over-pour of radiant floor pipe with cement. Low quality version here. 5.8 MB.

Canadian Government Brochure

From The Ground Up – NRCan Brochure of Geothermal Heating and Cooling 480 KB.

Just Geothermal Systems Literature

Weather and Average Soil Temperature Data for Canada – 40 Kb
Virtual Geothermal System Flash Animation - Flow Diagram 75 Kb

Links to Other Geothermal Information Sites

NRCan, Natural Resources Canada – Heating With a Ground Source Heat Pump– Canadian Government consumer information
Global Warming Impacts of Ground Source Heat Pumps compared to Other Heating and Cooling Systems – Informative NRCan document

Canadian Geothermal Exchange Coalition – This site has links to Canadian and U.S. Government information about Geothermal Systems and also to Industry Association sites.
Geothermal Heat Pump Consortium – An industry association that works hand in hand with NRCan.