As of yesterday, our new geothermal heating system is finally working. The geothermal probes were put in about six weeks ago, but we didn't want to replace the oil heating until it got warm enough so that we could survive for three days without central heating in the house. This finally took place during the past week. The oil burner has been thrown out, the burried oil tank outside in the yard has been disconnected and cleaned, and the new heat pump has been placed where the oil burner used to be and has been connected. No more oil being used in our house for heating purposes.
During the summer, we plan on putting together a similar heating system for our weekend house in the Swiss mountains: solar collectors to preheat the water of the secondary loops; geothermal probes to preheat the coolant in the primary loop; a heat pump to reheat the water in the secondary loops (one for space heating, and the other for hot water); and radiators in the house for space heating.
We already have the secondary loops and the radiators. Those can be reused. The water heater will have to be replaced, because a solar system requires a considerably larger storage tank for water than an electric or gas heater; and the solar collectors, the geothermal probes, and the heat pump will have to be installed fresh.
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