# Read this article then lets talk



## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

https://www.phcppros.com/articles/9881-a-downtown-ambient-geothermal-main

*This same idea 20 years ago was talked about by our local utility.

The plumbers including I made a stink and the idea was dropped. This article seems to rekindle same. Though not included in the article. I have a question "the ambient loop, is it dedicated to the system being talked about" or is it just a new water main being used for dual purposes? If the answer is for dual purposes. Then the stubbed in piping to the buildings gives up it's BTU'S to the heat pump and then returns the water to the mains. 
Here is the caution ... when you give somebody the right to return water to a main, you have opened the door to any nut that wants to insert some chemical or poison -- what ever into the city water, and kill off a bunch of people. The complete reverse of "the plumber protects the health of the nation." 

Please comment of this, anybody on here from Iowa?
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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

From my understanding it is an extra line not in any way connected to a potable water line. As long as this is the case I see no way someone could poison the water and kill people. As for the possibility of someone poisoning the water system simply because there is a return line. Well if it's not connected to potable water system then there is no health risk. If someone wanted to poison the water system all he would need right now would simply be a pump to create more pressure than the city main and then push poison back out in the system so I see no reason why one would be afraid of any health risk of an extra non potable line.

I can actually tell you that having 3 water lines going in to a building is standard in Denmark where I'm from. In Denmark they have a cold potable water line, a hot supply non potable heating line and a less hot return non potable heating line. Houses are almost always heated by radiators those radiators are supplied with the hot heating line and after they pull out some heat from the water it is returned back to the heating plant and again reheated up to temp and pumped back out in the loop. This is a very effective way to heat houses and no one have ever been at risk of getting poisoned.

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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

The article doesn't talk about potable water for one second. Geothermal energy is popular around here. The water is cycled in a loop to and from the deep underground to heat or cool a building. And even then it's mostly glycol not ordinary water.

The potable water connected to it is just the same as "make up water" like for a boiler.


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Tango said:


> The article doesn't talk about potable water for one second. Geothermal energy is popular around here. The water is cycled in a loop to and from the deep underground to heat or cool a building. And even then it's mostly glycol not ordinary water.
> 
> 
> 
> The potable water connected to it is just the same as "make up water" like for a boiler.


Exactly what I was getting at. There is no mention of it being connected to the potable water system. It would be an extra set of separate lines with a closed loop and they would have a station for it where they could also keep the system filled because there would always be a small leakage somewhere in all those random buildings.

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