This diagram depicts a basic water-to-water heat exchanger. This heat exchanged works just like your refrigerator; with a hot side; and a cold side. This basic function of refrigeration; and its' widespread use; make it one of the oldest, and most current, industries of this modern era. We average 2.1 refrigerators per household in this country.

The beauty about the way this industry sector has applied the basic refrigeration principles to heating and cooling, lies in its' source. Ground source heating and cooling (GSHC) systems are dependant on the constant temperatures in the ground. Therefore: they require a ground source.

Throughout this website are 4 renderings of the various types of ground source installations, adjacent to a house. Of the depictions, 3 show different closed loop configurations, and 1 shows an open loop being drawn from a water well.

Once a source has been installed, it will faithfully give its' heat to the cold side of an installed heat exchanger for the life of the building. Also advantageous of these types of heat exchangers is their ability to apply either the hot, or the cold, to desired areas within the building. The same furnace which provides all of the winter heating, provides all of the summer cooling. Also, these systems, and all of their components, are both repairable and replaceable.

With already more than 15 manufacturers of ground source heating and cooling furnaces in the US alone, this entire industry sector is experiencing a very rapid growth. Applications were limited to commercial or industrial for the first 5 decades ground source systems were used in the US; but in the last twenty years, residential installations have gone from almost none to over 1 million. They are being used extensively in many other countries around the world too.

It is with no wonder why this sector is booming. Ground source heating and cooling systems hurt no living things they exist near. They are dependable, they last, they are inexpensive to opperate, they are comfortable and they are comfortable to be around.