[villagetinker]

Originally Posted by Arctic Fox

There is a lot of discussion on TOTV about putting solar panels on the roof, but does anyone have experience of using a ground-coupled heat exchanger?

To explain: "A ground-coupled heat exchanger is an underground heat exchanger that can capture heat from and/or dissipate heat to the ground using the Earth's near constant subterranean temperature to warm or cool air or other fluids for residential or industrial uses."

I should have thought that the relatively high water table in TV would make the use of one quite efficient, saving a lot of electricity when heating/cooling one's home.

Thoughts?

I did a Google search on "geothermal heat pump florida", and there was a lot of info, several dealers in the area, and some discussion about cost, these then to be much more expensive, but much longer life, and much more efficient.
Also, while thinking a little more about this, tree roots are an item that probably needs serious consideration with these systems.
The other option I saw back up north was a well system BUT the wells were closed loop. In this case each 'well' was a sealed vertical pipe that was installed in a standard well shaft, with a thermally conductive fill one the outside. Enough were installed for the required tonnage of the system.