February 2011:
Several years ago, we passed our written testing for Geothermal Well Drilling. (Drillers have to purchase yearly license that is quite expensive to actually Geo drill.) For the past couple of years, we’ve been doing our homework. We’ve gone to a number of seminars and meetings. We’ve recently found that there is special pipe that installs down the bore hole that is supposed to be five times more efficient in extracting the heat from the ground. Like everything else we do, we’re not going to be satisfied with the status quo. So we’re planning to drill several Geo Holes on our own property and heat our shop next winter with this very efficient and natural heat.
One of the things that must be understood is that there are two forms of Geo Heat. One is actual Geothermal Heat. This is when a hole is drilled in the ground and the ground gives up enough heat so that the recirculated fluid naturally heats the dwelling. Most of the downtown in Pagosa Springs is heated this way.
The other more common Geo Drilling is actually called Geo-Exchange. The average temperature from the ground deeper than 6 feet is about 54 degrees. The piping is put into a deep drilled bore hole, or a horizontal trench many feet long, or a pond, and the fluid is recirculated to and through a heat exchanger – much like the compressor on every refrigerator. The heat exchanger then takes the 54 degree heat and increases it to temperatures needed to heat the house, depending upon the type of heating system you have. When outside winter temperatures are quite often 20 degrees to 10 degrees below zero here in Pagosa, the 54 degree heat from the ground is a huge step up for almost no continuing cost.
One of the things that we are excited about is that Pagosa Springs quite often has a blend between the two types of heats. We drilled last year about two blocks North of our shop, and at 500′ deep, we found that the water had temperatures of 74 to 76 degrees. We’ve heard of another well about the same depth even closer to our shop that has warm water. So we are taking laser temperature readings at various depths on almost all of our drilling now. We’ve even included a column on our field drilling logs for the temperature readings. As the years roll on, we are going to have very valuable data on the underground temperatures of the ground from Pagosa to Durango.
We are in the process of getting our plumbing licencing so that we will be able to offer you a package deal on not only the drilling, but the excavation, and the installation of the heating equipment in your home. One stop shopping. The best part is that when we are on your beautiful new property drilling your water well for you, we’ll be able to drill your Geo holes at the same time, which will save you money.
We’ll be updating this page with pictures and more info when we drill and install our own heating system. We’re only going to be offering heating systems for you once we have found the heating systems that work, save money, and work flawlessly long term.
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