By Bill Hoy, Project Manager
Great weather has allowed for steady progress on the REHAU MONTANA ecosmart house Project. The main work continuing has been the completion of the roof and overhangs around the perimeter of the house as well as the beginning of the waste and vent rough plumbing.
Great weather has allowed for steady progress on the REHAU MONTANA ecosmart house Project. The main work continuing has been the completion of the roof and overhangs around the perimeter of the house as well as the beginning of the waste and vent rough plumbing.
The REHAU radiant heating manifolds are currently being installed and the sub contractor is scheduled to begin work in the main mechanical room during the first week of June. The REHAU windows are being fabricated and should be shipped to the project in mid-June.
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| REHAU radiant heating manifolds. |
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| Current view of house. |
Geothermal Ground-Loop Heat Exchange
One of the most environmentally friendly and economical heating and cooling systems available today is the ground-source heat pump. In addition to four, 300 ft double U-bend RAUGEO probes to be installed in geothermal wells, the house will also have three REHAU Helix probes. The latter is a product only recently introduced to North America. Each Helix probe consists of 130 ft of 1 in. PEX-a configured in a spiral approximately 15 in. in diameter. The prefabricated Helix is placed in a 16 in. auger hole that is 14 ft deep to allow coverage for frost and filled with grout or native soil mixed with water. This should take place within the next few weeks.
The REHAU MONTANA ecosmart house will have the ability to monitor temperature on both geothermal systems and compare their performance data.
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| Diagram of vertical probes. |
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| Diagram of helix probes. |
