Geothermal Technician

Although it doesn’t look nearly as warm or inviting as a plush down comforter, the truth is: Thanks to the earth’s core — where the temperature is 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit — the ground is a toasty place to be.

So toasty, in fact, that it can heat your home. That is, if you have a geothermal heating and cooling system, which captures, delivers and distributes the earth’s heat.

If you’re a Geothermal Technician, you install, maintain and repair that system, which typically has three main components: a loop that’s installed below the ground near the home; a pump that circulates water through the loop to heat it, then extracts the heat; and a distribution system that delivers the captured heat to the rest of the house.

Like a traditional Heating Technician, your main responsibility as a Geothermal Technician is putting in the heating system and connecting it to the rest of the home, then performing maintenance and repair as needed, which typically requires diagnosing problems, ordering replacement parts and then doing labor to fix known issues.

Because geothermal is a relatively new technology, Geothermal Technicians also must take on the additional responsibility of educating customers. Geothermal heating has environmental benefits, for instance — geothermal systems burn no fossil fuels and generate no pollution — as well as economic benefits: Although they can be more expensive to purchase and install, geothermal systems often produce long-term savings in the form of low utility bills.

Given geothermal’s positive impact on the planet and the pocketbook, you don’t just generate heat; you also generate peace of mind.