ARLINGTON, VA — Following two years of development, the Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI) recently announced initiation of the Direct Geoexchange Heat Pump (DXHP) Certification Program that covers factory-made assemblies, including an indoor unit, a compressor unit, and in-ground refrigerant-to-earth heat exchanger.

Using an underground heat exchanger and based on a standard initially adopted in 1999 by the Direct Geoexchange Systems Product Section, the equipment provides residential and light commercial heating, cooling, and water heating.

The compressor unit is connected to a sealed, underground, closed-loop heat exchanger with small refrigerant tubes. Because the outdoor heat exchanger is underground, the unit does not lose efficiency and is not subject to freezing as ambient air temperature drops, according to ARI.

Current participants in the DXHP Program include ECR Technologies, Inc., and American Geothermal DX. The certified ratings for DXHP can be found at www.ari.org/directories/ dxhp/ (website).

Publication date: 10/30/2000

Links

• Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute (ARI)