I just spent 2 days surfing geothermal heat pump. Found some good experience on this site so am hoping to tap into it and perhaps reduce my R&D time.

Firstly if anyone knows a certified installer in the Snowflake area please let me know.

I have a home in Snowflake AZ on 36Acres of land. The house is supplied with water from it own well about 70ftSW from the house. I need irrigation for growing and am about to siink a second well to the north. The water table is about 160ft below surface.
Can I double up on the use of these wells to form a closed loop (is that the right phrase?) by pumping water from one well and dumping it to the second?

I presume the pipes on the intake side should be trenched and insulated?

If the intake/outlets stay below the water surface is it true that Id be pumping against a net zero head and hence save power?

If my house A/C is rated at 4 tons working against outside temperatures, when I go geo the gradient would be reduced - does this mean Id need a less tonage?

All help gratefully recieved and more questions anon, Cheers Kev

Can I double up on the use of these wells to form a closed loop (is that the right phrase?) by pumping water from one well and dumping it to the second?

It's still an open loop the second well is used as a return

I presume the pipes on the intake side should be trenched and insulated?

They should be protected from freezing if that applies to you. You don't want them sitting above ground or damaged.

If the intake/outlets stay below the water surface is it true that Id be pumping against a net zero head and hence save power?

If I understand you correctly yes. Your head loss is thru the heat exchanger.

If my house A/C is rated at 4 tons working against outside temperatures, when I go geo the gradient would be reduced - does this mean Id need a less tonage?

No but it will operate more efficiently. Two stage is always good.

However, two stage may be a needless expense in an arid climate. They are a bit more efficient and blow less air in the lower stage, but the added cost and complexity may not be worthwhile.

__________________
Curt Kinder

www.hoviscustombuilders.com

Without data, you have but an opinion.
No thing done well is as simple as it seems

160ft to water will result in excessive pumping costs for an open loop and will make the system not cost effective. The reason is that you can only recover about 30' of head before cavitation occurs on the return line in the second well. You may want to consider closed loop horizontal (since you have the land).

-Adam