A horizontal ground loop is one of the most basic ground loop types. It is achieved by burying thousands of feet of pipe in trenches or a pit-style excavation. A large amount of land is needed to run those trenches, but if that land is available, it can be an easy and economical way of building a ground loop.

The size of the loop and amount of trenching needed are dependent on things like your heating load need and soil type. The heating load will be the greatest factor in the sizing of the loop, and obviously the larger the house, the larger the heating load, the larger the ground loop needed to supply that heat.