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| Depends on your thermostat as well. Not all are designed for a geothermal setup, and more so an air heat pump. Air based heat pumps are designed to use your aux/emergency heat anytime the temp gets below the setpoint OUTSIDE, such as zero, etc. as the heat transfer for the air based heat pump looses its efficiency as it gets colder.
A thermostat for a geothermal system will understand the difference and only use your aux/emergency heat when it has difficulty maintaining the temperature INSIDE the house. For example, my thermostat will use my stage 1 to heat the house most of the time. If I increase my temp a few degrees it will continue in stage 1. If it is unable to get the temp to increase in the house in what it considers a reasonable amount of time it'll turn on Stage 2. It'll do the same and then turn on the aux heat if need be.
It's best to have your HVAC person configure it, but there are usually settings in the thermostat for geothermal systems and also settings on how often it is allowed to use your stages, aux heat, etc. It takes a lot more tuning than a conventional or air based heat pump to get it to run effectively and efficiently.
Hope that helps.
FYI I have a 3500 sq. ft. house in SW. Minn. where it is always windy and cold. I have 5 200ft long closed loop runs that are about 12ft underground. I usually keep the house at 68 all winter and the only time I use stage 2 is if I increase the temp a few degrees. On very cold stretches, such as last year when we had a few weeks where our highs were in the single digits below zero, it ran most of the time, which from what I have read is what it should do. Then you know it is sized right for your situation.
Edited by jlohrenz 3/3/2015 09:11
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Geothermal Heat question
