Commercial Geothermal Heat Pump Loopfield Installation Project

The largest geothermal installation in the region, this project has taken over a year to complete. Join us in showcasing a geothermal installation that will be the standard for new developments in the area seeking sustainable solutions to heating and cooling.

Project: Tailor Square Hickey Freeman Development
Developer: Home Leasing
Scope: Drill (92) 500′ Geothermal Wells, lateral piping tie in, manifold installation and flushing/filling
Narrative: This historic factory owned and operated by the Hickey Freeman company has been brought into a new era in being transformed into a modern production facility, along with adding 134 affordable housing apartments. To sustainably heat and cool the building, developers Home Leasing, included a geothermal heat pump system in the plans.

Geothermal Well Drilling

Over the course of 6 months, the ACES team partnered with local well drillers to complete (92) 500′ vertically drilled wells on the North Clinton Ave property. These wells will circulate water and propylene glycol to act as the heat exchanger for the geothermal heat pump system.

Manifold Installation

To connect the exterior geothermal wells to the interior geothermal heat pump equipment, a manifold that collects and distributes the geothermal loopfield water to the interior components is installed. This manifold required a dedicated housing unit to be built around it after installation (due to footprint and size).

Lateral Piping

To connect the exterior geothermal wells to the manifold that collects and distributes the geothermal loopfield water, lateral piping is installed. This project utilized pipe sizes up to 10″.

Flushing & Filling

Once the geothermal wells are connected to the manifold, and the manifold installation is complete, any residual dirt and debris that is stuck within the piping must be flushed out before the system can become operational. A specialized flush and fill system is utilized that can pump up to 480 gallons per minute, and filter down to 5 microns in size. Our team spent an entire day flushing contents out of the loopfield to prepare to “Charge” the system with the glycol antifreeze needed to operate the heat pumps.

Glycol Filling

After the loopfield has been cleaned of all debris, it is ready to be charged. For this project, we brought in 11,500 gallons of 25% pre-mixed propylene glycol to fill the loopfield.