So when we left off with the geothermal install they finished putting in the underground loop and left two stubs outs of pipe into basement. About a week later they came to install the actual geothermal unit.

I didn't take many pictures of the process, because it's actually not very different than a normal HVAC install. The first day, they disconnected our existing heater (it was broken anyways). This allowed them to place the new unit in its place and take measurements for the metal duct work needed to connect it to our ducts. There was then a break of about 3 days where they worked on the duct work at their office and were not able to make it our house due to one of their people being sick.

The next few days they were here they installed the metal duct work they made, ran the condensate line, ran electric lines, and ran the lines for the geothermal loop.  

Geothermal loop lines
Geothermal loop lines and the pumps for the liquid in the lines

So one major difference between an air source ac/heat pump (your typical unit) and the ground source geothermal is that the coolant compressor is inside the house with the geothermal. A compresser does a lot of work when cooling and heating so it gets pretty hot. In the summer you want this heat outside - but it's in the house with a geothermal unit. Not a bad thing in the winter, but the opposite of what one wants in the summer.

One thing many geothermal units offer is the option to take this extra heat and put it into the hot water for the house. Even though it's a bit of a costly option (new water heaters, and the labor/parts for the unit) we elected to do this. The way it works for our system is that we have two "hot water" tanks. They are both normal electric hot water tanks, but only one has power. The first tank - without power - is a pre-heat tank that will be used to recirculate water though the geothermal HVAC unit to cool the compressor. This warmed up water then goes into the next tank where it is heated like normal. By using the pre-heat water the normal tank doesn't need to heat the water nearly as much as if it was cold water coming in - saving a bit of money. Supposedly in the summer when the AC is running a lot, the compresor cooling loop can get the water in the pre-heat tank up to the normal hot water temperature - completely eliminating the work the normal tank needs to do to heat the water.

Two water tanks, the line going into the drain on the right is part of the compressor cooler loop.

We've had the system for about 3 weeks now and so far it has been great. Having air conditioning thoughout the house has been swell when we had some 80 degree days. Not needing to put pellets into the wood stove three times a day is a treat, not to mention being in same room as the pelelt stove and not overheat.

I can't recommend the contractor we went with more highly - Geothermal Profesionals was a joy to work with - other than the minor miscommunication regarding the start date we enjoyed the entire process (well maybe not the writing the check part either). They kept the work sites neat and left things cleaner than when they started - they also fixed some minor leaks in our existing duct work after they noticed them.