How does a geothermal heat concentrator work?

[NM_Shooter]

I understand using geothermal heat to function as the primary heat exchanger for heating and cooling a home.  But an integral part of this is something they call a "heat concentrator".  How does this work?

I'm guessing that the "heat concentrator" is some sort of freon compressor / expansion unit, and that it is coupled with the geothermal exchanger to get higher efficiencies than you can get by just using air as the exchange source. 

Most old-school AC units cool the compressor coils with air.  For cooling, Geothermal cools the compressor coils with fluid that is temperature stabilized by the earth.  Is this true?

In the winter, you heat the expansion coil with water from the earth, and you use the condensor coil to generate heat for the house.

They say that you can heat your water heater with this system too.  If my guess is correct, then you can best heat your water heater cheaply in the summer, when you are extracting heat from your house. 

Can anyone chime in?

[Onkeludo2]

Yes, Geothermal heat pumps are still heat pumps which are basically reversible AC units.  They use water as a heatsink.

I have not yet seen one of these drive a water heater, but it would not reasonably change the conditioned air in your home...at least as I understand it.

Now, the high-publicized heatpump water heaters that are "normal", aka air-sourced, DO affect the temp of your conditioned air.

Mike

[Rob_O]

To the best of my knowledge, there are no ground source heat pumps available that dump the excess heat from your house into the water heater. They will only produce hot water when in the heat mode,

[Dave Sparks]

I understand using geothermal heat to function as the primary heat exchanger for heating and cooling a home.  But an integral part of this is something they call a "heat concentrator".  How does this work?

I'm guessing that the "heat concentrator" is some sort of freon compressor / expansion unit, and that it is coupled with the geothermal exchanger to get higher efficiencies than you can get by just using air as the exchange source. 

Most old-school AC units cool the compressor coils with air.  For cooling, Geothermal cools the compressor coils with fluid that is temperature stabilized by the earth.  Is this true?

In the winter, you heat the expansion coil with water from the earth, and you use the condensor coil to generate heat for the house.

They say that you can heat your water heater with this system too.  If my guess is correct, then you can best heat your water heater cheaply in the summer, when you are extracting heat from your house. 

Can anyone chime in?

Quite a few people in Florida are using the heat pump water heaters and getting a cooler garage as a by product. they are well over $1,500 last time I looked. They are good for the tax credit!