• Strawbale House with Geothermal Heating and Cooling

    Beautiful passive solar home with geothermal heating and cooling that has a net-zero footprint. This house is built from resources that we found right on the land where it’s located; strawbale walls that surround 3,500 SF of space with a mud mixture for the walls. Trees from the property, such as black walnut, cherry, locust and hickory are used throughout for ceilings, flooring, doors, and other accents. We worked closely with the owners and designer to strategize on the installation of geothermal heating and cooling, high efficiency triple pane windows, radiant flooring, tub, master bedroom and gym. We also installed a 3-ton water to water unit with a storage tank and a hot/cold water coil for the air handler. Take a look at the before and after pictures!

    Strawbale House with Geothermal HVAC

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  • Jump onto the Bandwagon with VRF’s

    The FEMA National Emergency Training Center needed a partner to install 32 tons of VRF (viable refrigerant flow). FEMA quickly turned to Harvey Hottel to fulfill the task. Our Project Executive, Scot Hottel, developed a plan and executed flawlessly. He worked closely with the stakeholders to ensure success.

    This project was completed with minimal disruptions to their facility members, which was a mandatory request. From maintaining the project timeline, ensuring a quality installation, to keeping the occupants informed, Scot was able to deliver another success.

    VRF systems are increasingly becoming more popular especially in larger urban areas where space in premium. According to Arista.com (2017) there are 7 major benefits for installation of VRF systems:

    1. Consistent Comfort – these systems can accurately identify the exact amount of refrigerant needed to each air handling unit.
    2.  Quiet Operation – smaller air handlers, which means smaller noise amount.
    3.  Energy Efficiency – precise amount of refrigerant needed so it can run at a lower capacity and less frequently.
    4.  Installation Flexibility – VRF’s are compact systems designed to travel lightly, no ducts and are space effective.
    5.  Heat and Cool Simultaneously – has the ability to capture heat recovered from the cooling process and redistributed into another area that needs it.
    6.  Controls and Smart Technology – can be controlled and maintained through a mobile device.
    7.  Fewer Breakdowns – less stress on the parts because VRF’s are designed to run only when necessary, which leads to fewer breakdowns.

     

     

     

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  • We Speacialize In Geothermal Heating and Cooling

    DID YOU KNOW: Geothermal energy has the smallest carbon footprint of any other heating or cooling source. It can also be eligible for tax cuts and maintains a longer lifespan of 25 years for indoor and 50+ years for outdoor underground components (Comfort Pro Inc., 2019).

    Mark Hottel, Owner and Designer, and Mike Kephart, Project Manager, specialize in geothermal energy. Cost savings for monthly operating expenses coupled with new Federal tax credits offered,  provided our homeowner with the incentive to procure the benefits and comfort of geothermal heating and cooling.

    The scope of work included four new geothermal heating and cooling units with associated sheet metal ductwork, geothermal piping, electrical, and controls. Additionally, two geothermal water-to-water units provided the hot water for the radiant floor heat for the following areas: basement, garage, and master bathroom.

    From maintaining the project timeline to ensuring a quality installation, the Harvey Hottel team was able to deliver another quality project. Contact us today!

     

    Geothermal HVAC in Gaithersburg

     

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