Geothermo

[Godlover]

Does anyone here have Geothermo? I've been reading up on it and visited with a guy at the local Homeshow today and he claims I can heat, air condition, and heat my water for between $600-$800 a year with Geothemo. Price would probably be 20 grand but there is a 30% tax credit and $2000 rebate from our utility company which takes 8 grand off the top. I'm getting close to needed to replace what I have - so it looks a bit attractive. The good news today was when they had the big drawing I didn't win the 42" TV - but I won a remote car starter and 100 Sq. Yards of free carpet cleaning.

[BigBoyinMS]

I don't have it but I've read as much as I can about it and everything that he said fits with what I've found. The also are supposed to last an average of twice as long as a standard heat pump.

[Guest seuadr]

if the initial investment doesn't turn you off, then yes, it is totally worth it. get a seer 15+ unit. Did he tell you what the COP was? is it a vertical or horizontal loop?

 

if you get cold there in the winter, though, you don't want to use the electric backup heat, have them install a dual fuel thermostat and then use your existing heat (unless that is electric too, i suppose) below a temp that they can identify for you. ask them to do a balance point and they can tell you when it becomes more expensive to run the system than the heat you are getting out, at that point, switch over to another heating source. i'm not really familar with the winters there, though , so they might not be that bad?

[Gary N.]

I've had it for close to 20 years. Just put the 2nd unit in 2 years ago. It cost a lot to install but the pay back is really good. If I recall the monthly electric bill dropped about $100 with the first furnace and almost that much again with the new and improved model. Bare in mind the electric charges/kwh do keep going up, I'm just not using as much. I only got about 15 years out of the first one. Lucky we had a lot of incentives to install these both times. First one was about $7000 including the ground loop and the 2nd one was about $4000 but they used the same ground loop.

[Oldslow]

I know several people in northern Ontario with it and they are very pleased. I think a high efficiency electrical fan is a must.

They say it's the best air conditioning they ever had as well.

The Ontario government was offering a very large rebate at the time a couple years back...

[Condor]

Geeze, what a great thread.... I had no idea this existed. The wife and I have been bracing ourselves :mo money:for when the time comes to replace our old ca.1958 HVAC system. The only reason we haven't done it so far is it's still working and even tho the usage cost is greater we burn a lot of gas and electricity for the cost of replacement. I know, I know it ain't green... It's an old Carrier R12 system and built like a tank.

I've often wondered if just circulating plain air thru a deep well would work, and maybe it would, but this sounds so much better. I found this site via Google that explains the system very well. http://www.reddawn.com/featart11-98.html

I've also been dreaming about building a Straw Bale House on our property In Valley Springs CA. A Geothermo system would be great....

[Godlover]

There is a ton of info out there on the heat pump. Right now the Fed is offering a 30% tax credit and most utilities are offering a rebate program. It makes it attractive especially if you will need to replace your existing unit soon or you are building new. Actually, if you are building new and include it in the cost of the house - it is reasonable and silly not to. Utilities keep climbing and this just makes sense. We have an all electric house in Iowa but our bill hasn't been too bad. January was our highest ever at $450 with a 3,000 sq. foot home. If I had geo I would use the cooling more instead of suffering with the heat cause I'm too tight to pay the air conditioning bill! Also, they claim that Geothermo does a great job with getting rid of the humidity. Not sure how - but that's what I read. I have a guy in my church who is on his second system and has kept a daily reading of his electric meters. He has two meters - one for the geo system and the other for the rest. He swears by them!

[Condor]

According to the article when coupled with a desuperheater the hot water energy demand is also greatly reduced, which should reduce power costs even more. Heat pumps have been around for 30 years or more, and yes there's plenty of info on them, but Geothermo applications and technology are fairly new...

[FROG MAN]

I'm looking at Geo-Thermal for the new house. Our local water well service also installs the ground loops. Just waiting for my ship to come in. Has anybody seen it? This would be great in a log home with a wood stove supplement.