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

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 using 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.

A DXHP is also quieter and simpler system than traditional heat pumps due to the elimination of exterior condenser/evaporator coil, fan, fan motor, capacitor, defrost time, and associated wiring.

Today, ARI maintains 21 certification programs where companies voluntarily participate in independent verification testing to ensure that each manufacturer’s equipment will perform according to published claims.