- Check the Credential's Status Before You Study
- What the Certified Residential Geothermal Designer Covers
- The Nine Preparation Topics, Explained for Study
- What to Expect From the Questions
- A Domain-Ordered Study Plan
- Fees, Renewal and Membership Mechanics
- Existing Holders vs. New Candidates
- Where the Credential Gets Used
- Frequently Asked Questions
- CRD here means IGSHPA's Certified Residential Geothermal Designer, now a legacy credential with restricted new-candidate availability.
- Historical preparation covers nine headings, from system benefits through load calculations to design economics.
- Active holders renew at $75/year for members or $225/year for non-members, with CEU documentation required.
- Lapsed legacy credentials cannot be reinstated, so renewal timing matters more than exam tactics for current holders.
Check the Credential's Status Before You Study
Most study guides skip the first question a candidate should ask: can I actually sit for this credential right now? For the Certified Residential Geothermal Designer, issued by the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA), the honest answer is "it depends, and verify first."
IGSHPA's January 2026 white paper on sunsetting legacy training courses and certifications (White Paper 251229, revision 260114) documents the CRD as part of the legacy lineup. The paper reports that normal legacy training was to be replaced by the end of 2025. Legacy courses are now considered case by case and offered only when a utility, state or provincial program requires them. Active CRD holders may keep renewing indefinitely, provided they keep up with continuing education and never let the certification lapse.
If you are still deciding whether this path is right for you, our overview pieces on what CRD certification is and CRD requirements and eligibility explain the credential's background. This guide focuses on preparation content and the mechanics around it.
What the Certified Residential Geothermal Designer Covers
The CRD is a residential-scale design credential for ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems. The word "designer" matters: the preparation emphasis is on sizing, layout and economics for a single-family-scale installation, not on commercial loop-field engineering or installation craft alone. A candidate who can walk from a home's heating and cooling load to a justified heat pump selection and ground loop design understands the heart of the material.
The historical course listing ties certification to passing the corresponding examination. What it does not give us, and what we have not been able to verify, is any current legacy-exam detail: question count, time limit, passing mark or initial exam fee. We will not invent them. If you want to understand why those numbers are hard to pin down, see our discussion in CRD passing score and CRD pass rate.
The Nine Preparation Topics, Explained for Study
The nine headings below come from IGSHPA's historical CRD course listing. They are unweighted preparation topics, not an official exam blueprint, so do not assume any one carries more points than another. For a deeper walk-through of each area, see our complete guide to the nine CRD content areas.
Domain 1: Ground Source Heat Pump Benefits
Know why a homeowner or utility would choose a GSHP over conventional equipment, and be able to state those advantages precisely.
- Efficiency advantages from exchanging heat with stable ground temperatures
- Comfort, equipment longevity and environmental arguments
- Honest limits: where benefits depend on good design and site conditions
Domain 2: System Components
Be fluent in the physical pieces and how they connect.
- Heat pump unit, ground loop, circulating pump and fluid
- Distribution side: ducted or hydronic delivery
- How each component's failure or undersizing shows up in system behavior
Domain 3: Heat Pump Types
Distinguish the main configurations and know when each fits a residence.
- Water-to-air versus water-to-water equipment
- Closed-loop versus open-loop approaches at a conceptual level
- Matching equipment type to the home's delivery system
Domain 4: Design Process
Understand the order of operations, because exam scenarios often test sequence.
- Gathering building and site information before selecting equipment
- Moving from loads to equipment to loop sizing
- Checking the result against client expectations and economics
Domain 5: Energy Requirements
Connect a building's energy demand to what the system must deliver.
- Heating-dominated versus cooling-dominated demand profiles
- How seasonal demand influences the ground loop's thermal balance
- Reading energy use in terms a client understands
Domain 6: Load Calculations
This is the technical foundation for everything downstream. A wrong load produces a wrong heat pump and a wrong loop.
- Heating and cooling load inputs: envelope, infiltration, orientation, climate
- Why oversizing harms performance and cost
- Practice working a calculation from raw building data to a result
Domain 7: Parameters That Affect Heat Pump Performance, Site, Geology and Soil Conditions
The longest-titled heading is also where site judgment lives.
- Soil and rock thermal properties and moisture influence
- Available land area and its effect on loop configuration
- Entering water temperature and how it shifts equipment performance
Domain 8: Heat Pump and Pipe Design
Translate loads and site data into a specified system.
- Selecting heat pump capacity against the calculated load
- Pipe sizing, flow considerations and pressure drop concepts
- Loop length logic tied to site and load conditions
Domain 9: Economics of Design
A technically perfect design that cannot be justified financially often does not get built.
- Installed cost versus operating savings
- How design choices shift payback
- Presenting the value case to a homeowner or program administrator
What to Expect From the Questions
Because no current legacy-exam format has been verified, the safest preparation assumes two kinds of thinking: recall of definitions and component functions, and applied reasoning that carries you through the design sequence. The curriculum structure supports this. Domains 1 through 3 are largely conceptual, while Domains 6 and 8 are where calculation and specification skill is tested.
Practice accordingly. Do not just reread notes on load calculations; work problems until you can reach a result without hunting for the method. For benchmarking how demanding that is, read how hard the CRD exam is, and use the CRD Exam Prep practice tests to pressure-test both recall and applied reasoning.
A Domain-Ordered Study Plan
The nine topics build on each other, so study order matters more than study volume. The plan below follows the design chain: concepts first, then loads, then site, then specification, then economics.
Foundations: Domains 1-3
- Build a vocabulary sheet of components and equipment types
- Be able to explain GSHP benefits without notes
Process and Energy: Domains 4-5
- Write out the design sequence from memory
- Contrast heating-dominated and cooling-dominated demand
Load Calculations: Domain 6
- Give this domain two weeks, since everything later depends on it
- Work repeated problems from building data to final load
Site and Performance: Domain 7
- Study how soil, geology and entering water temperature change results
- Link each site factor to a design consequence
Specification and Economics: Domains 8-9
- Run one full design from load to loop to cost justification
- Finish with mixed practice across all nine topics
If you want a condensed reference to keep beside you, our CRD cheat sheet summarizes the must-know facts, and the full CRD study guide hub collects the related material.
Fees, Renewal and Membership Mechanics
This is the area where precision matters most, because the numbers that are verified apply to renewal, not to an initial exam. No initial exam fee has been verified for the legacy CRD, so do not budget from a guessed figure.
| Item | Verified Detail |
|---|---|
| Member renewal | $75 per year |
| Non-member renewal | $225 per year |
| Renewal term options | One, two or three years |
| Individual membership (currently employed) | $125 per year |
| CEU requirement | Eight CEU points per three-year cycle, with documentation required for processing |
| Initial legacy exam fee | Not verified |
Note that the eight CEU points per three-year cycle are points, not eight classroom hours. Confirm how IGSHPA counts a specific activity before you assume it qualifies, and keep documentation, since it is required for processing. The fee policy has been in effect since January 1, 2024, and details are on the IGSHPA certification renewal page. For the full cost picture, see our CRD certification cost breakdown.
Existing Holders vs. New Candidates
If you already hold the CRD
Your priority is not exam strategy; it is continuity. Because lapsed legacy credentials cannot be reinstated, a missed renewal could be permanent. Calendar your renewal term, line up CEU documentation early, and decide whether a multi-year renewal term is worth locking in. The GRSD examination is a separate, optional upgrade, not an automatic replacement of your credential.
If you are a new candidate
Confirm availability first. A utility, state or provincial program that requires the legacy CRD is the most likely route to a case-by-case offering. Ask the program administrator and IGSHPA directly which course and exam, if any, applies to you. If the CRD is no longer obtainable for your situation, the nine-topic material still serves as strong residential geothermal design preparation for whatever IGSHPA pathway is current.
Key Takeaway
Before enrolling anywhere, get written confirmation of the specific legacy offering, its dates, and what credential it leads to. Do not rely on third-party schedules or old event listings.
Where the Credential Gets Used
The CRD fits people who design or specify residential ground source systems: HVAC contractors expanding into geothermal, designers working with loop installers, and staff at utilities or state programs that incentivize or standardize GSHP work. Where a utility or provincial program names IGSHPA certification as a requirement, the credential carries real weight; elsewhere its value is mostly as documented design competence. We do not quote salary figures here because none are verified for this credential specifically. For the broader employment and earnings picture, see our CRD jobs overview and the analysis of whether the CRD is worth it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not with confidence. Legacy courses are considered case by case and offered only when a utility, state or provincial program requires them. A past HRAI schedule listed a February 2026 virtual course, but that does not prove current enrollment is open. Verify with IGSHPA first.
No current legacy-exam question count, time limit or passing mark has been verified, so we do not state one. Prepare across all nine curriculum topics and confirm format details with IGSHPA or your program administrator.
Renewal is $75 per year for members or $225 per year for non-members, in one-, two- or three-year terms. IGSHPA individual membership is $125 per year for currently employed professionals. CEU documentation is required, and the cycle calls for eight CEU points over three years.
IGSHPA's current FAQ states that lapsed legacy credentials cannot be reinstated. Active holders can renew indefinitely, so the risk is entirely about missing renewal and CEU requirements.
No. The GRSD examination is a separate, optional upgrade path, not an automatic renaming of the CRD. Its objectives and rules are distinct, so keep the two credentials' preparation separate.
For further reading on terminology and background, you can also review what CRD stands for and the practical side of CRD training. When you are ready to test yourself against the nine topics, start with the practice exams at CRD Exam Prep.