1. A Captor

The captor is a long, winding pipe (in loops) buried underground. The pipe is made from high-density polyethylene tubing. This is a durable material and is a great conductor of heat. The joints are then heat fused together, making them even stronger than the tubing itself. It absorbs the geothermal heat from the earth and, using a mixture of antifreeze solution and water, it transfers the heat to the generator. There are three types of captors- horizontal, vertical, and water-sourced.

a) The horizontal captor is the most common, but it needs lots of square footage (for people with large yards). The area required for the captor is around 150 m2. The captor is buried horizontally about 60 centimeters underground.

b) The vertical captor uses the same loops of piping...