Ground Source Heat Pump

[simonedi]

I was thinking earlyer, has anyone attempted to use a ground source heat pump instead of a more traditional heater for a reef tank?
For those of you who have not encountered these, they collect heat from either the ground using either boreholes or buried tubes, some versions that use pipes in a lake or pond are also available as are setups that collect the heat from the air.
These pumps can heat water as high as 50-55 degrees c and even act as chillers when running in reverse. Setup costs are fairly chunky but once running they provide heat at a much, much lower cost than a normal heater.
Obviously a loop from the tank through the pump would be required to move the heat or some similar set up.. any thoughts on the possibility of this anyone?
Just a brain fart.. no idea how practical or workable this would be!!

 

[sbreefer]

totally possible. just run a hydronic zone of 1/2" pex thru the sump and tie an aquastat to your GSHP controller.

 

[Tigé21v]

Along the same line of thinking, but probably a lot cheaper
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1771510

 

[Phinnay]

Totally do-able. My local public aquarium does this

 

[atreis]

For chilling, at least up here, it could be done without a compressor (the "heat pump" part of a heat pump) - just pump water through a pipe underground - 55 degrees year round.

For heat, the heat pump would be required, but is only economical (when including the cost of the heat pump itself) if you have a REALLY big tank.