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Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by hectormalot on Saturday February 26, 2022 @04:20AM (#30476290)
I have one of those. The well is 170m deep. Took 2 guys about half a day to drill it, so that actually doesn’t seem excessive in terms of time required (mostly sand, no rock below my house).
Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by NavinF on Saturday February 26, 2022 @06:52AM (#30476846)
I assume you mean “2 guys and some heavy equipment”? As a kid it took me a whole summer of on-and-off digging to make a 1 meter deep hole for fun.
Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by dpark on Saturday February 26, 2022 @09:00AM (#30477607)
Out of curiosity, what were you digging with? Unless you were digging with a toy sand shovel or making a very large hole, that seems like a very long time.

As a kid, my cousin, my sister, and myself were able to dig a hole deep enough for me to be completely inside in an hour or two using a post hole digger. (Yes, this is a very stupid idea.)

Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by jmacd on Saturday February 26, 2022 @09:15AM (#30477706)
You have to make sure it's straight, drop sheathing in to the hole, and then cap it if it isn't going to be used right away.

More importantly, geothermal/ground source is rarely 1 well either, in our case it was 8.

Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by NavinF on Saturday February 26, 2022 @10:40AM (#30478439)
A shovel. I couldn't get past 1m because of the rocks were too difficult to shatter.
Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by dpark on Monday February 28, 2022 @09:48PM (#30508731)
That’s fair. We were not digging through rocks.
Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by oliveshell on Saturday February 26, 2022 @08:21AM (#30477299)
That’s what they mean. My neighbor had one drilled and the contractors showed up with a huge well-drilling truck.

It’s just a huge vertical drill with segments you add on as it goes deeper, like an oil well drill.

Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by hectormalot on Saturday February 26, 2022 @05:31PM (#30482617)
Correct, it's big but I wouldn't say huge (maybe 4.5x2.5m). This is the machine they used: https://conrad-stanen.nl/nl/producten/boxer-200
Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by oliveshell on Sunday February 27, 2022 @10:27AM (#30489287)
Most drills I’ve used fit in your hand. Compared to that, it’s huge :)

(although on rereading I didn’t mean to say ‘huge’ twice in my previous post)

Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by tinco on Saturday February 26, 2022 @11:06AM (#30478698)
Awesome! Do you sink heat into it during the summer, or do you also use it for airco?
Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by hectormalot on Saturday February 26, 2022 @05:33PM (#30482637)
Sink directly into it for the summer. Heat exchanger between the source (approx 10-15C) and the water from the floor heating/cooling system. Because the heat pump is not involved it's very efficient (only the power of the well pump)

I'm actually considering if it makes sense to push a lot more heat into it in the summer (Deliberately leaving curtains open, then moving this heat into the well; or even PVT panels), but I'm not sure if the well would retain heat long enough to make a difference towards the winter.

Re:You can have geothermal power everywhere if you drill dee... by tinco on Saturday February 26, 2022 @06:50PM (#30483398)
It definitely should, I'm not sure making your A/C work harder deliberately makes sense economically, I guess you'd have to do the math. PVT or even just thermal panels (i.e. rolls of garden hose painted black in a glass covered box) would make a lot of sense if you're in a colder climate though.

Your system should give a an overview of your yearly input/output and any drift of the well temperature right?