GEOTHERMAL HEAT/AC

[427king]

Dean, One thing is constant. We need to move.It cost more for a geo unit in a 2000 sq ft home in CT than it does for a 10000 sq ft home in every other state, I got prices of 20K JUST for digging 3 150 ft wells. Lets remember one thing, if the system saves you 500 a month, they will find a way to charge you 499 more to put it in so it ends up the same as oil and electric anyway.[just like they did with diesel fuel ]. Ill take the 60K and put a down payment on a house down south and be way ahead of the game. The people here also say you need to keep your oil or electric system too as a "backup" for real cold days,so paying 60K and then keeping your oil heat seems ridiculous anyway. If someone comes up with a idea for a small fan that heats your house for 5.00 a day, theyd charge you 80K for it, so its all irrelevant anyway trying to save a buck.

[@wot]

Chuck, you are right about backup. All the systems are designed to provide heat down to a certain temp, then you need a backup source. For example, I looked into heat pumps, and they were only good down to 41 degrees at my location, before you need an auxilary form of heat. USELESS here in the NE. You are also right about calculating your return on investment, thats why i hesitated.

[indyjps]

Im building a commercial buidling in stages
the first build this summer will be a 30 X 44 shop 12 ft walls for me, Im going to run pex tube in the concrete so I can set up a system later.
the second build, 1-2 years will be 40 x 64 and will just be storage units for rent, considering putting a paint booth in this side for my own use and theres a few free lance painters in the area Ive known for years that will rent it out.

Ive been reading up on geo thermal, whats your experience with insulating under the concrete slab, this is the stage Im at, running utilities in the next 2 weeks and getting some concrete in by mid june. Im using all side job labor (friends of friends) and my own labor so the time frame moves around.

[budnate]

dunno what your weather is like, but we need to run heavy duty plastic in the NW then whatever insulation you want or non and pour it thick...if you dont most of the time your floor will sweat terrible and make your shop damp on the inside,

[Hylton]

[ QUOTE ]
.... I got prices of 20K JUST for digging 3 150 ft wells. ....

[/ QUOTE ]

I think your contractors cousin is living up here Chuck because I got a similar quote!

[427king]

[ QUOTE ]
I think your contractors cousin is living up here Chuck because I got a similar quote!

[/ QUOTE ] The guys down south and in the midwest dont know how easy they have it. Up here people rather be homeless than work for under 150.00 an hour,and then they want CASH to boot...

[Chevy454]

[ QUOTE ]
Up here people rather be homeless than work for under 150.00 an hour,and then they want CASH to boot...


[/ QUOTE ]

<---Have backhoe, will travel!

[427king]

[ QUOTE ]
<---Have backhoe, will travel!

[/ QUOTE ] I got lots of parts and cars you might like for bartering too..

[J_D]

Geo Thermal Heating and Cooling is certainly the way to go. We built a 2100 sq. ft. ranch style home in 2005 with a full basement and a 1585 sq. ft. detached shop and both are heated and cooled by Geo Thermal systems. Both or our systems are the Econar brand which you can find on the internet. The house has (5) 250' wells and is a forced air system and the shop coils are buried in a big hole similar to the size of my basement and about 9' down. The shop has radiant in-floor heat and forced air with a air handler for the central air conditioning. Our son-in-law was the electrician on our home/shop when we built it and he ran 400 amp. service into our home and then ran the electric through conduit back out to the shop. I found out just how important that was later when the electric company told me that had I not done it that way and put a separate meter on the shop, they would have had to charge me the commercial electric rate instead of the residential rate even though the shop is for my own personal use and no compensated work is done there.

Our heating/cooling bills have been extremely reasonable and keep in mind, we live in Central Iowa and heat and air condition both buildings. I think our highest electric bill has been $175.00 and keep in mind, we only have one meter so this covers both buildings. Also like Rob mentioned, we received a $3,850.00 rebate from our energy supplier (Mid-American Energy) for going Geo on the house. They would not rebate anything on the shop as it had to be living space. I tried to tell them that when Nancy kicked me out of the house, just where did they think I was going to live?

Here are some pic's:

[b] DRILLING THE WELLS FOR THE HOUSE





RADIANT IN-FLOOR HEAT IN THE DETACHED SHOP







FINISHED PROJECT

[Hylton]

Love the Bowtie above the garage!