Geothermal well

[downtown]

Hi,

I am considering an open geothermal system where I use an existing potable water well as a water source. Where can I find specific details on the requirements for a geothermal discharge well (i.e. another well to receive the water from my heatpump)? All I can find on the web is general requirements such as a class 5 well, or position relative to the source well. My existing well was just drilled yesterday with a water flow of 25 gpm at 265ft. Do I need to drill a well at the same depth? Can it be a dry well or do I need to hit water? What are the pump requirements? My soils engineer who designed my well system is not familiar with a open geothermal well system. The local HVAC contractors only deal with closed loop solutions.

[Midwest]

Start with your local Environmental Planning Group, Groundwater Management office or similar agencies in your area. They will advise you specific requirements for your state, county, city, etc. The laws & codes will vary from region to region with local and state amendments.

[downtown]

Thanks - but they are useless. The head of the health dept. said no one ever asked for this before. All I have is a class 5 well. A class 5 well can be anything from 30ft to 14,000 ft. I am looking for best practices like casing length, well depth, etc. Believe it or not I believe this is much less expensive than any closed loop configuration. I wonder why this is rare where water is plentiful.

[gto boy]

Make sure dump well takes flow back into ground ,also some area do not allow pump and dump.

[amickracing]

I can't give you much info, but around here the pump and dumps are very popular since water for the most part isn't too far down.

I wish I knew more and could give you some more guidance... but I'm kind of in the same boat as you, wanting to know much much more about it with limited resources.

[markwolf]

contact your department of natural resources.If you put the dump well in & it's not allowed it may open a whole can of worms,Like having to fill it(liscensed well driller only)& have it monitored,etc.If you do not follow thier guidelines you will have big problems later.Alot of areas have tons of regulations to follow for any well.

[aircooled53]

Might want to contact Earth Energy out of Marriatta, Oklahoma, those guys' drilled most of our wells since 1985.
Mr.Willis could answer your question I'm sure.

Or Geo-Thermal Drilling Inc.
Huntsville Texas
Jeff Shaw-936/293-8787

[downtown]

Thanks but this is what I found:

Earth Energy out of Marriatta, Oklahoma 800-771-9455 does not drill wells. I explained my situation and they will get back with me.

Geo-Thermal Drilling Inc. DOES NOT recommend using a discharge well AT ALL. They said by the time you discharge the water back into the well the hydro static presssure will cause the calcium (hardness) to precipatate clogging the well.

WOW - Any other comments? It now seems like I should avoid using a discharge well altogether!