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Simple Ground Heat System Cools, Heat Shop
Wess Cornelius's made-it-myself ground heat system provides heating and cooling for his shop at minimal cost.
  "I use it to help heat and cool my 15 by 32-ft. shop," says the Winlock, Wash., man.
  A friend used a trencher to bury 100 ft. of 4-in. dia. plastic non-perforated drain pipe 4 ft. deep in the ground. It was buried in a loop around the shop. After installing the pipe in the trench, he attached an elbow to both ends and brought the pipe up at both ends inside the shop. A few inches extend above the floor. A small electric fan at one end of the building is used to suck air through the tube. The fan is placed inside a 5-gal. bucket with a 4-in. dia. hole cut into the bottom.
"It provides free energy and was cheap to put together. I paid $100 for the pipe and $75 to hire the trenching work," says Cornelius. "The ambient air temperature 4 ft. deep in the ground is 50 to 54 degrees. It'll change the air temperature 10 to 20 degrees, so if I go to my shop on a 30 degree day, the temperature inside the shop will be 40 to 50 degrees. During the winter, I usually turn the fan on about 2 hrs. before I go to the shop. If I leave the fan on at night when it's freezing outside it'll still keep the shop at 45 degrees or higher. It also helps on hot summer days. I've used it several days when the outside temperature was over 90 degrees, yet the shop stayed at about 75 degrees. If I had left the fan on overnight the shop might have cooled even more."
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Wess Cornelius, 1312 Ferrier Rd., Winlock, Wash. 98596 (ph 360 785-4178).


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2011 - Volume #35, Issue #3