The drilling and grouting phase of NGWA’s geothermal retrofit was completed on October 17 after breaking ground in late August.
Utilizing the geothermal tax credits available for nonprofit organizations that were signed into law in 2022, NGWA selected Jackson Geothermal of Mansfield, Ohio, to drill 20 boreholes for a vertical closed loop system. The company drilled the boreholes in the lower level of the building’s parking lot.
Jackson Geothermal will start the horizontal piping phase the week of October 23, which will take about two weeks to complete. Once that is finished, the internal conversion will start and that is expected to take an additional 120 days.
The vertical closed loop system will replace the Association’s outdated HVAC system that it has used since moving to its current 15,970-square-foot location in September 1996.
This isn’t the first time NGWA has supported geothermal. The Association had an open loop heat pump using a water well installed in a new building that became its headquarters in 1985 in Dublin, Ohio. Its Airport Drive building in 1995 in Columbus was fully geothermal where more than 100 boreholes were drilled by the company of long-time geothermal advocate, the late Ralph Cadwallader of Texas. There was a geothermal unit set up for training among many others (dozens).
NGWA’s geothermal retrofit is made possible by these industry partners:
- AMTROL Inc.
- Bergerson-Caswell Inc.
- ClimateMaster Inc.
- Enertech Global LLC (GeoComfort)
- Federal Elite Heating & Cooling Inc.
- Grundfos
- Jackson Geothermal
- Preferred Pump & Equipment
- Salas O’Brien
- WaterFurnace International Inc.
- Xylem.