The first trench is opened for the ground loop

The pipework for the geothermal system has to be 3 metres deep, and the top of it at least 1 metre below ground level, in order to extract the heat from the ground.

At that depth the soil is at a constant temperature, and it is that heat which our system will transfer through the heat pump (www. iceenergy.co.uk ) to warm the water and radiators for the house.




















The ground here is particularly hard, and it has taken all day to dig one of two trenches.

It is a challenging job, requiring considerable skill, to dig a trench that is 3 metres deep but only 300mm wide ( 10ft by 1ft).




















Thanks to the initiative of our digger driver, Mark, we now have a digger bucket modified by the addition of one central tooth to cut into the underlying rock.

Bottom right in the photo of the digger are the racks or panels of pipes, ready to be laid in the trench. Before being covered by sand and back filled, the pipework will be pressure tested to 4 bar pressure to ensure we have a leak free system.

Each of 12 panels of pipes runs to 36m so in total we will be burying 432m of 40mm pipe. Fortunately, speed is not of the essence!