Inna Kozlowski
Owner and system designer
Ground-source heat pumps · Traverse City
The ground below your lake house stays near 50 degrees all year.
We design, bore and install ground loops for lake homes and new builds around Grand Traverse Bay. A drilling partner puts the pipe in the ground. Our own crew does everything inside the walls.
- A written quote that names the drilling firm
- Bore depths and loop fluid on paper
- Mechanical contractor license in the footer
How a loop works
Five steps from the ground to your floor.
A ground loop is a closed circuit of buried pipe. Nothing is burned and nothing is pulled from a well.
- Step 1
Step 1: Fluid circulates through buried pipe
A loop of polyethylene pipe holds water with a little antifreeze. Below the frost line the ground changes little between a January night and an August afternoon.
- Step 2
Step 2: The heat pump collects the heat
In winter the fluid returns from the ground a few degrees warmer than it left the house. A compressor in your mechanical room lifts that heat to a temperature the house can use.
- Step 3
Step 3: The house loop delivers it
The warm side goes out through ducts as air, or through tubing in the floor as warm water, or both. Either is a design choice we make with you at the site visit.
- Step 4
Step 4: In summer it runs backward
The same machine moves heat out of the house and into the ground. There is no outdoor condenser on the deck to hum or to bury in a snowdrift.
- Step 5
Step 5: The pipe stays put
Loop pipe is fused, pressure-tested and buried. Nothing underground moves. The heat pump indoors is the part you service.
Loop types
Four ways to put a loop in the ground.
Your lot decides which, not us. We say which fit and which don't.
Vertical bores
Narrow holes drilled straight down, each with a U of pipe, grouted closed. They fit a side yard or a drive, and the drilling partner does the boring.
Needs little yard
Rig access matters
Lake or pond coils
Coils of pipe sunk on the bottom of deep enough water. It can be the lowest-disruption loop on a lake lot, when the water and the permits allow it.
Needs enough depth and volume
Permits are part of the job
Horizontal field
Pipe laid in trenches across open ground, below the frost line. It suits a large lot, a new build before landscaping, or a farm-sized yard.
Needs open ground
Lawn restoration is on the quote
Open-well systems
Some houses can draw from a well and return the water. We tell you if yours is one, and what the state requires, before we draw anything up.
Only where water and rules allow
Not our default
A sample project
Four tons, three bores, one lake-view house.
A sample, not a past job: the kind of numbers your quote will show for a 2,800-square-foot home on the bay.
What the quote lists first
Loop type: vertical, closed
Capacity: 4 tons of heating and cooling
Bores: 3, each 250 feet deep, 750 feet in all
Inside: ducts upstairs, tubing in the lower-level floor
4 tons
A ton is 12,000 BTU an hour750 ft
Total bore length
Who it's for
Three kinds of project.
Lake-home owners
Replacing a propane or oil furnace in a house that is hard to reach in winter, or planning a second home you want to keep warm from a distance.
See the servicesBuilders and architects
A loop goes in before the landscaping and the heat pump after the drywall. We give you a schedule, a mechanical room size and the inspection dates.
New constructionOwners who want to know first
Read the sample quote, the pricing page and the seasonal calendar. When you're ready, a site visit costs you an hour and a walk around the lot.
How pricing works
Incentives
State and utility programs, checked at your address.
Ask us what your state or utility offers. Programs change and some end without notice, so we check what is in force when we write your quote and list only what we can show you in writing.
Your utility
Some utilities publish programs for ground-source systems. We look up yours and say what paperwork it needs.
The state
Michigan's energy offices list programs by year. We link the page we read and the date we read it.
What we won't do
We won't put an amount in a quote that depends on a program we can't point to.
The firm
Fifteen people, and the drilling firm we work beside.
Our crews do the design, the heat pump, the ducts and tubing, the controls and the start-up. Fischer Drilling bores the field.
Humberto Gutierrez
Installation lead
Latonya Bowens
Project manager
Carson Britton
Controls and start-up technician
From owners
What owners said after the first winter
“Our propane tank used to be the first thing I checked in November. Now I check the loop pressure with Carson once a year and that is the whole list.”
Elsa M.Vertical loop, Ellsworth
“They told us in the first visit that the lake was too shallow off our shore, and laid out the bores in the side yard instead. I would have paid for the wrong answer.”
Pieter V.Retrofit, Alden
“The loop went in before the landscaper and the sod went over it. Our builder said it was the one mechanical trade that never held up the schedule.”
Juliet A.New build, Old Mission
Sample reviews.
Service area
Grand Traverse Bay and the lakes around it
Five counties of northwest lower Michigan, from the bay to Torch Lake. If your address isn't listed, send it and we'll say whether we can get a rig there.
Grand Traverse County
- Traverse City
- Old Mission
- Buckley
- Fife Lake
Leelanau County
- Omena
- Maple City
Antrim County
- Ellsworth
- Alden
- Kewadin
- Atwood
- Rapid City
- Mancelona
Benzie County
- Honor
- Copemish
- Lake Ann
- Thompsonville
Charlevoix County
- East Jordan
- Charlevoix
We don't take jobs in the Upper Peninsula or south of Cadillac.
Questions
What owners ask before the site visit.
How much yard does a loop need?
It depends on the loop. A vertical loop goes down, so a few bores can fit beside a house. A horizontal field needs open ground, often a good part of an acre. A lake loop needs no yard at all, only the right water. We size the field from your house's heat loss and say what it needs before you decide.
Does it keep up in a northern Michigan winter?
The ground below the frost line changes little between January and July, which is why the loop works at all. The heat pump is sized to your house's heat loss, and some systems add electric backup for the coldest days. Your quote says whether yours does and why.
Do I need a pond or a lake?
No. Most loops are in the ground. A lake or pond loop is one option when the water is deep and large enough, and when the owner of the lakebed and the state allow it.
Can you replace a propane or oil furnace?
Yes, and it is the most common retrofit on a lake home. We check the ducts or in-floor tubing first. If the ducts are too small for a heat pump, the quote lists the changes as their own lines.
What does it cost?
It depends on the loop, the soil and the house, so we price each job on paper after a site visit. The pricing page lists what decides the number and what the quote includes.
Who does the drilling?
A separate drilling firm, Fischer Drilling, bores the field for us. Your quote names who is responsible for what, from the bores to the restored lawn.
What if my carbon monoxide alarm sounds?
Get everyone out of the house, then call 911 from outside. Do not go back in. A ground-source heat pump burns nothing, but a propane or oil furnace or water heater still does. Call us once the house has been cleared.
Book a site visit.
Tell us about the property. We'll call to set a time to walk it with you.
Phone(231) 555-0101
Hours
- Monday – FridayToday
- 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
- Saturday – SundayToday
- Closed