Thinking of building a house or adding a bedroom? Is your leach field failing?
Septic system design is sometimes over looked in the building process and should be considered carefully, as a priority. A proper functioning septic system starts with a great design which considers many factors including:
- State of New Hampshire and Local Town Requirements
- Placement of your house, drainage, tank and leach field
- Proper design for future use including water filtration systems, whirlpool bath tubs, etc.
- Proper leach field placement for future use including swimming pools
- Review of your land for proper slope, flat designs, pump or raised systems
- Review of the soils for proper leaching
Septic system design starts with a State of NH licensed designer. Please contact Jackie Roy of AJ Roy Excavation, LLC. Jackie is a licensed designer and installer. She currently represents the installers on the board of directors for the Granite State Designers and Installers Association. Other licensed professionals can be found through the State of NH Department of Environmental Services. Many well qualified designers are also active in Granite State Designers and Installers Association which is a nonprofit association of septic system professionals.
Advantages & Disadvantages to the Open Loop vs Closed Loop
New England seasons have large temperature variances. The winter temperatures consistently reach below zero so the heat pump needs to be sized according to the heat loss, not heat gain. We also have rocky and low soil conductivity to contend with which makes horizontal ground loops costly and difficult to install. However, there is a closed loop system that works very well here in New England, the vertical loop. This is a series of bore holes that have a glycol and water solution circulating between the ground loop and system to obtain temperature.
Several differences between the open loop (standing column well) and closed loop systems lead customers to choose one over the other. Water temperatures entering the system from an open loop range from typically 47 to 50 degrees in the Southern NH region. Entering glycol and water fluid temperatures on a closed loop system are between 36 and 40 degrees. In most cases, this temperature difference means that you are able to size the geothermal heat pump smaller for the open loop application, costing less up front. The installation cost of a closed loop is slightly higher than the standing column well since it requires drilling more holes. The other advantage to the open loop is you have the ability on new construction to use the ground source for your domestic water as well as for geothermal which can save money.
However, there are many advantages to the vertical closed loop. It does run more often since the temperatures on the incoming loop are lower but the loop is circulated by small, 0.7 amp circulators, which require much less electricity than the well pump that is submerged hundreds of feet in the ground. For this reason both the open and closed loop cost about the same when looking at operation costs. There is less maintenance to a closed loop since there is not any ground water sediment coming in to the system that needs to be cleaned. It is also much cheaper to replace a circulator pump at about $400 than a well pump at about $3500 and the pumps on a closed loop system are easily accessible in the mechanical room, not in the ground requiring a well rig to take it out. Both open and closed loop systems have their benefits and we look at everyone’s’ situation on an individual basis. For more information on this visit www.ultrageothermal.com
Open Loop Ground Source and Vertical Closed Loop System
If you are like thousands of other people that suffer from low water pressure in your home there is a solution. For years people that have private wells have had to deal with pressure problems, and did not realize that there is a solution!
A private bedrock well (or artesian) is one of the best water supplies that you can have. YOU are in charge of the water you drink and no one else! This is a wonderful thing that many take for granted!
Now, with regards to pressure, most people have a standard pressure tank in the basement that has a pressure switch. This pressure switch regulates the on and off of your well pump. Most pressure switches are set for a standard 40/60 or 30/50 PSI. What does this mean? WELL, when the pressure in the pressure tank falls down to 30 or 40 psi the pressure switch makes contact and this turns the well pump on and the pump starts to deliver water to the pressure tank and then out to the home. The problem with this old technology is if you are taking a shower and someone flushes the toilet or turns the dish washer on or tries to use water outside you will see a considerable pressure drop. This is because you are using a conventional pump system and the pump cannot keep up with the demand of water in the home. (Another common complaint is this; “when I am taking a shower and someone flushes the toilet I lose water pressure and get hit with a burst of cold or hot water)
ITS 2011! – we don’t have to live with low water pressure any longer, There is a solution for this problem and its called CONSTANT PRESSURE Pump Systems. The preferred constant pressure pump system is made by Grundfos. The Grundfos constant pressure “soft start” pump system utilizes a transducer that constantly monitors the flow of water to the home and simply put, it speeds up to deliver the flow rate based on the demand and it delivers whatever you have the controller pre set at for pressure from 40-100psi.
We recommend locking the pressure in at 70psi for residential applications.
With this system you can have constant water pressure everyplace in the home without loosing pressure in different areas. This system does not utilize a pressure tank that sits on the floor but rather a stainless steel manifold that mounts neatly on your basement wall which saves you valuable space and is much nicer to look at! Below is an actual example of what the inside manifold looks like when you install a constant pressure pump system in your well.
A simple diagram of a heat pump’s vapor compression refrigeration cycle and components are as follows:
1) condenser,
2) expansion valve
3) evaporator
4) compressor
How do all of these parts work together?
The working fluid, in its gaseous state, is pressurized and circulated through the system by a compressor.
On the discharge side of the compressor, the now hot and highly pressurized vapor is cooled in a heat exchanger, called a condenser, until it condenses into a high pressure, moderate temperature liquid.
The condensed refrigerant then passes through a pressure-lowering device also called a metering device, expansion valve.
The low pressure, liquid refrigerant leaving the expansion device enters another heat exchanger, the evaporator, in which the fluid absorbs heat and boils.
The refrigerant then returns to the compressor and the cycle is repeated.
Take a look at our environment…
• Overtime we have misused our resources
• Continued on with an environmentally unconscious attitude
• Caused stratospheric ozone depletion leading to a destruction of 70% of the ozone located over Antarctica
• Even though we have seen a significant turnaround since the 80’s it is still not enough of an effort.
• We need to change our ways since we are dependent on oil and the solution is renewable energy sources!
