if geothermal works by getting heat from the ground why is my well water so cold;can it be used for heat?

Ken is wrong. Most geothermal uses heat pumps. These are like a refrigerator or air conditioner. They extract heat from one source and transfer it to a system that can distribute it.

The air conditioner takes heat from the house, and moves it outside. Of course the air blowing to the outdoors is hotter than the air it used to capture the heat.

The geothermal heat pump can do this, and its actions are reversible. When heating the house, it removes heat from the ground (making it cooler) and transfers it to the house. When cooling the house, it does the reverse.

When heating the house, it does require a way to replace the heat it took from the ground. In the case of a well, there may be enough flow underground to take care of this. If one uses dry wells, it is necessary to have several, spaced some distance apart, so heat can slowly transfer back to where the wells are. The geo piping can also be laid out horizontally.

Unlike an air source heat pump, the geo system does not become less efficient as the air temperature goes up or down. Deep underground, the temperature remains pretty constant.

You can read more by searching for ground source heat pumps in the green search box above, and on the Internet.

There has to be a heat source present underground. Most geothermal sources of water run close to some sort of current or inactive volcanic activity.

that water is not that cold probably 50 degrees yr round,cold to you and me but warmer than freezing air,thats plenty of heat to run a heat pump.................tom