What rules apply to a geothermal (ground-source) heat pump on a BC lot?

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A registered geoexchange driller must drill and seal a closed loop's wells; an open loop pumping groundwater through the heat pump needs a water licence, as heating isn't household use. A ground-source heat pump, often called geothermal, moves the ground's heat into a house through pipes in the ground (a closed loop) or by pumping groundwater through it and back (an open loop). BC treats the boreholes as wells under the Water Sustainability Act and its Groundwater Protection Regulation, and the two loops follow different rules. Look up the address or PID on PlaceDossier to see the record for that lot. Closed or open: A closed-loop geoexchange well holds a ground loop with no transfer of water between the aquifer and the well; an open-loop geoexchange well is a water supply well whose water passes through the heat pump (Groundwater Protection Regulation s. 1). Horizontal closed loops less than 5 m deep, laid in trenches, are left out of the regulation, artesian flow aside (s. 4 (1) (c), (2)). Who may drill it: A well must be built by a well driller qualified for it, or under the direct supervision of one or of a professional in hydrogeology or geotechnical engineering (Water Sustainability Act s. 49 (2)). For a closed loop that's a registered driller classified as a geoexchange driller; a water well driller builds every other class, an open loop's supply well among them (Regulation ss. 9 (1) (a), 14 (1) (a), (b)). The Province's register lists both. How a closed loop is built: The driller seals each well along the whole length of the ground loop, from the bottom upward, promptly after the loop goes in (s. 25). It needs no well cap or identification plate (ss. 38 (5), 39 (4), Schedule 6), and the owner must keep the seal whole, sealing any opening that shows (s. 64 (1) (b)). The well record: A closed-loop system gets one well construction report to the Province and a report for each of its wells to the owner (s. 76, Schedule 6). An open loop's supply well is a water supply well with its own report and plate, sited like any well (see drilling a new well). Open loops need a licence: Groundwater used to take heat from or give it to one or more homes on one parcel by passing it through an open loop is residential heat exchange, a use for industrial purposes (Water Sustainability Regulation s. 2, Schedule A). Household use, which needs no licence, covers drinking, cooking, washing, fire, animals and a small garden (Act ss. 1, 6 (4)), not heating, so an open loop needs a water licence or other authorization (Act s. 6 (1); our reading). Hot water: Steam or water at 80 °C or more where it reaches the surface is a geothermal resource under the Geothermal Resources Act, outside the Water Sustainability Act (Act s. 4; Geothermal Resources Act s. 1). A home heat pump draws on ground far cooler than that, so it stays under the Water Sustainability Act (our reading). Ending one: A closed-loop well taken out of use is deactivated by taking the geoexchange equipment out of operation, and decommissioned by draining the loop's circulation fluid and sealing the well (Regulation ss. 70 (5), 71 (6)); a registered well driller is qualified to do either (s. 14 (1) (d)). What it means for a buyer: A ground-source system's loop is out of sight, so its papers are what you can check: the well construction reports, who installed it, the circulation fluid, its service record and, for an open loop, the licence in the seller's name, which passes with the land (see water licences). The heat pump and its wiring are building and electrical work, with their own permits.

What rules apply to a geothermal (ground-source) heat pump on a BC lot?

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