Building a home..thinking of going Geothermal. Need help.

[joeunderdog]

My wife and I are looking to build a 2500-ft house and want to be as environmentally friendly as possible. As it so happens, going Green will likely save us money despite paying substantially more upfront. On the surface it looks like we could get our investment back within a decade, maybe much sooner. But I don't know how to do the math on it. Any insight would be welcome and appreciated.

[smoogatz]

1. We thought about going geothermal when we replaced the heating system

in our 1901 house in central WI. A couple of things stopped us: one, the up-front cost differential was prohibitive—about $13,000 more than a high-efficiency gas furnace. Two, we talked to friends who had them in this climate who felt that in sub-zero weather they had a hard time keeping their houses much above 65 degrees: a bit chilly for us. Those were newly constructed homes, too--God knows what it would've been like in a place as big and loose as ours (about 3400 sq ft, and old, as I say). We also couldn't reliably figure our potential savings because the previous owners had, over time, used a variety of heating methods (corn stove, wood stove, you name it) to supplement the 50s-era gas furnace AND boiler we ended up replacing. Bottom line, though, in a new construction house the size you're talking about in a moderate climate, I'd go for it and to hell with the price differential, assuming you planned to be there for at least 15 years. I think if the system will actually keep your house warm, it's ultimately better to put money into the technology than it is to hand it to the gas company and dump all that carbon into the air.

[kristopher]

2. Absolutely go for it.

Presuming you are going to hire a contractor, I'd say the most simple way to approach the issue would be to just ask them to work up a comparison for you. Be sure and get multiple bids and check with your state energy office for information on rebates and tax benefits prior to making a decision. The contractors will probably know of the rebates, but they may not be up to speed on tax benefits - especially federal tax advantages.

Also be aware of the ability to couple it with an electric heat pump system instead of a natural gas or propane system. There is a great deal of volatility in the prices of natural gas and propane, while electric is expected to be RELATIVELY more stable - even as we switch to renewables.

If you have details you'd like to PM me, I'll see what I can see.

I'm preparing to retrofit my ancient shack with a homemade system at the end of this summer. Hope it works.

Good luck.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. What he said!

An HVAC guy in Ca.

[corkhead]

3. I have had one for 10 years, it has proven to be an excellent decision

I love it. I have a 1500 sqft house in lower Michigan, and never have a utility bill over $100, even with temps of 71 degrees all summer and 69 degrees all winter. When I bought it, Propane was 50 cents per gallon and it had a good payback then. I think I paid about an extra 40% for my HVAC system install which was about an extra $3000. I figured I got that money back in about 4 years.

[Autumn Colors]

5. Was thinking about retrofitting our house as well

... but we're going to get away from oil in a two-part process. First, we're going to go with electric baseboards (my electrician brother can do the hardwiring). Some of the rooms in the house already have them and they work really well, esp. if you've got the door of that room shut.

The next step will be to get solar panels on the roof.

May put in a pellet stove in the living room with a 6-hour backup battery hooked up to it just in case the power does go out before we go solar.

Another thing we looked into were mini-splits, which are long narrow combination heat/AC. Problem is they get installed high up on the wall - fine for AC, but am wondering if it would be a good source for heat.

We ran out of oil in April and I chose not to refill the tank again. Had a couple of cold snaps, though. Our living room/den is 20 ft by 20 ft and has both forced air vents from the oil furnace and 2 electric baseboard heaters. We kept the electric baseboards on all the time and it did keep the room at about 67 degrees despite the huge area. Putting them on all four walls should do the trick.

I've heard there are small rooftop wind turbines now, too. Not sure the wind is strong enough up here to go that route, though.

[ladjf]

6. Its a good idea. It will cost a few thousand more initially but will

pay for itself in a few years. There is info all over the internet about the subject, "residential
geothermal heating and cooling".

[Ian David]

7. My neighbor across the street is in the process of putting in geothermal right now...

If you want, PM me with your phone number, and I can ask him to discuss it with you. I'm sure he'd be happy to do that.

See here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=3221201#3221432

[joeunderdog]

8. Thanks to everyone for the feedback.

I may take a couple of you up on your offers for more info.

Any guess on what an initial cost would be? I got figures that ranged from $40-70K which might mean the difference between doing it or not.


Thanks again for the tips!

[NYC_SKP]

9. Try these sites:

And look for local built projects, what works in California might not be right for Vermont.

http://www.igshpa.okstate.edu/

http://www.geoexchange.org/

http://www.yodergeothermal.com/

Good luck, have fun, blaze a trail!