Colorado Geothermal Drilling in the Rockies
Experience, dedication and ingenuity have led owner Dan Rau and his team at Colorado Geothermal to great success in the geothermal industry, specifically in vertical loop installations.
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Geothermal Drilling in the Rockies by Rebecca Rodriguez
With experience, dedication, and much ingenuity, Colorado Geothermal Drilling is perched as one of the top geothermal drillers across the state. Its owner, Dan Rau, devised a small, 10 customized drill that enables workers to get into a lot of tight spaces. In densely populated areas where there’s 1/8 to 1/6 of an acre, the rig is able to get in because it’s so much smaller than a typical loop drilling rig. This generates much business for the company since many houses in Colorado sit on a small amount of land about ¼ to ½ of an acre in some communities. “It (rig) gets into tight areas. Not many guys have equipment to get in there like we do,” Rau said. Colorado Geothermal specializes in vertical loop fields. Many homes have nowhere to put a loop field except in the back yard. For many geothermal drilling
companies the area is too small to work in or they can’t get their equipment into it. What sets Rau’s company apart from others is the 10 years of experience they have and the innovative equipment they run. The company’s work is primarily residential with only 10 percent commercial jobs. The economy has had an impact on the types of jobs the company completes. Three to four years ago, 90 percent of the jobs were new construction and 10 percent was retrofitting existing houses. Now those numbers have flip flopped with about 80 percent retrofit jobs and 20 percent new construction. THIS PAGE: Trenches for geothermal system, 8 loops drilled 300ft deep tied together in trenches and extended back to house.
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corporate profile | geothermal
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“We work mostly within a fifty to seventy mile radius so our guys can come home at night and have a family life and not be on the road weeks at a time.” “Things have shifted. With the economy, people are staying in their homes rather than buying new ones,” he said. When doing new construction, Rau noted, there’s no tearing up of landscaping and no sod that needs to be replaced. When putting a vertical loop in an existing home, the utilities, water, sewer, gas, and electricity are worked around by Rau’s smaller rig. A new construction project in Evergreen presented a challenge of drilling through solid granite due to the mountainous region. It took twice as long to get the job done, but Rau was successful. If a propane heating system were put into the home, it would have cost the owners about $800 or $900 per month. But with a geothermal heating system, the bill comes out to be about $300 a month, Rau said. The 8,000 ft spec home required ten 230’ loops installed under the driveway. 4 Energy Leaders Today
The home was featured in the 2009 Denver Luxury Home Tour. Rau doesn’t discriminate between which jobs to take. He has completed projects for houses as small as 1,500 sq. ft. all the way up to 40,000 sq. ft., which required 8,400’ of drilling and twenty-four 300’ loops. The average size home the company works on is about 4,000 sq. ft. The Imagine House in Boulder was one of the commercial projects the company has tackled. The house was a residence for those with special needs. It was a small site on a tight lot situated off a four lane road running through town. The company installed ten 280’ loops under the parking lot. The projected savings over the life of the system is $560,000. The company works throughout Colorado, sometimes working at elevations of 9,000’. “We work mostly within a 50 to 70 mile radius so
our guys can come home at night and have a family life and not be on the road weeks at a time,” Rau said. For advertising, Rau is a board member of the Colorado Association for Geothermal Heat Pump Systems where he works to get the word out about geothermal. The company’s website also gets a lot of attention and the company has been featured a few times on the Discovery Channel with shows such as Planet Green and Renovation Nation. The show Renovation Nation filmed Rau’s company as they drilled for the Imagine House in Boulder. “The (shows) drum up interest and make people aware,” he said, adding that he might have gotten a few jobs after the shows aired. ABOVE: Installing geothermal loops in small residential subdivision. 4 loops at 200 feet for a 2,200 sq. ft. ranch retrofit.
corporate profile | geothermal
“The economy has affected us some. People are hesitant on spending the money. There’s an uncertainty of what happens next. We’re fortunate we’ve stayed busy.” The company also gets jobs by word of mouth, he said. The market has been growing steadily for the company. Rau has five employees. “The economy has affected us some. People are hesitant on spending the money. There’s an uncertainty of what happens next. We’re fortunate we’ve stayed busy,” Rau said. New construction has picked up this fall and even with the recession going, Rau said he is pushing on and finding work. Rau has some heavy hitters in the competition arena that do a lot of the commercial work. “But if we’re still doing residential I can’t complain. We’re doing more work and being more efficient. We pride ourselves on designs and installation and doing a good job. It puts ourselves above the competition. And we’ll put it in more efficiently,” Rau said. Rau has created a unique rig for his company and has placed himself on a high peak in the Colorado arena of geothermal installers. As his company runs strong so does his will to grow and expand as word spreads about geothermal. ELT THIS PAGE: Trenches for geothermal system, 18 loops at 200 feet for 8,000 sq. ft. home, 5,000 sq. ft. outbuilding, pool and spa. OPPOSITE PAGE: (Top) Geothermal pipe in trench tying all the loops together to bring into the home. (Bottom) Drill installing loop in front yard of home in Carter Lake, Colo.
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“On a nationwide basis only 1 to 2 percent of homes are geothermal. A lot of people could have geothermal and I think it’s coming along fairly well. But geothermal heating and cooling systems aren’t the norm in the country.”
Flow C ent er Products, Inc. ( F C P) i s a n assembling facility and distributor of loop pump modules and controls. Roy Klaty, the found er and president of Flow Center Products, has over 21 years of experience with geothermal systems. Flow Center Products, Inc. constructs flowcenters for closed loop heating and cooling systems. Flowcenter loop pump modules are available for both residential and commercial ground loop heating and cooling systems. Our flowcenters are compatible with Bell & Gossett, Grundfos and Wilo pumps and can be configured with multiple
pump units to match different load requirements. This allows our customers to have many options. FCP offer Cabinet Models in Black or White, Without Cabinet Models, Isolation Unit Models and Commercial Models. In addition, they offer a complete line of parts, fittings and
PE fusion tools that are available for installation and maintenance of flowcenters and closed loop geothermal systems. Geothermal closed loop fittings in brass or polyethylene are also available. For more information on Flow Center Products, please visit www.flowcenter.com.
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