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EARTH TUBES: A NATURAL WAY TO AIR CONDITION YOUR HOME

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WHAT ARE EARTH TUBES?


Earth tubes, also known as ground coupled heat exchanger systems, aim to take advantage of the cool air beneath your home to keep your house comfortable during even the worst heat waves.
As we mentioned above, the temperature of the ground just a couple of feet beneath our feet is a usually a comfortable temperature anywhere between 50 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. While some ground coupled heat exchanger systems involve complicated pumping of water throughout the system of tubes, a simple earth tube system simply requires plastic PVC plumbing pipe, and a small fan.
The entrance for the earth tube system is a piece of pipe that sticks up out of the ground somewhere outside your home. A minimum of 100 feet of pipe is buried several feet underground until eventually passing underneath your home foundation and into your home. You can then branch these tubes in several directions so that the tube system exits into different rooms that you want to cool during the summer months.

A blower is situated at the entrance of the earth tube system to move the air through the piped system and into the home. By burying a long portion of plastic tube underneath the ground, the cool temperature of the soil is exchanged with the warmer air that is entering the tube. Over the course of the 100 feet of pipe (or more) the air, through the physics of heat exchange, becomes cooler as the surrounding soil gets minimally cooler. The result is a comfortable flow of cooler air that enters your home without the aid of any sort of chemicals, compressors or fossil fuel dependent central cooling systems.

HOW TO INSTALL A NATURAL AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM IN YOUR HOME

The exact specifications for your earth tube air conditioning system will depend on the specific climatic context where you live. If you live in Maine, for example, the average temperature underneath your soil will be much more pleasant than if you live in southern Florida.
As a general rule, the cooler your average annual surface temperature, the less amount of piping you will need. Since the temperatures of the subsoil will be cooler, you will also be able to get away with not burying your piping too deep. In the case of most cool weather climates, a two-foot depth should be more than enough to reach an optimal soil temperature to cool your home.
If you live in warmer climates, it is advisable to bury more pipe (between 150 and 200 feet) and bury it deeper. You may need to invest in a more powerful blower for the longer your piping.
Once you have your pipes buried, it is important to consider exactly where you want the cooler air to enter your home. The south-facing side of your home is where you will receive the most heat from the sunlight, and is a good candidate for at least one exit for your earth tube system.

USING THE EARTH TO COOL YOUR HOME

Why would anyone choose to cool their home with fossil fueled powered air conditioners when an infinite source of cool air is just below their feet? While remodeling an existing home for an earth tube cooling system could be expensive due to the digging and opening holes in your floor and foundation, the savings (both economic and ecological) will last a lifetime.

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