geothermal sticker shock

[kenmac]

You didn't offend me by your statment. Most of the people I know that are in the business fab their own duct and most is metal . The flex stuff don't last very long in a house with crawl space.Dogs& cats love the stuff. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[moeh1]

A couple thoughts on sheet metal. I have a friend who is a shop teacher at a vocational high school. They have the equipment, but not much budget for metal, they are often open to free labor for a true DIY job. Might be a one off option for you... He also had a book that did list all the various sizes of duct, although they usually are shop made. I called a couple shops, found one that had prices in the same range and had them fab alot of it due to time constraints. I got decent pricing even though I am "Joe off the street", but it might depend on how much competition is on your area.... Also, www.ACdirect seems to offer a custom design and fab service....

 

[heehaw]

how about maintenance..most conventional systems can go 10 years easy, without being touched...how has that compared to the geothermal?? the guy i keep trying to get everyone to look at his site, dougrye.com, really pushes geothermal..and says the reduced heating and cooling bills will make up for the high cost..if your going to stay put...
how many feet of pipe did you have to put in and what size is your geothermal unit..around here, the rule of thumb is 200ft of pipe/well per ton.
heehaw

 

[db2]

Heehaw: Sorry for the delay...been offline and outside for a few weeks. I have the unit inspected once per year. So far the only cost I've incurred is $100.00/year C$ for the guy to drive out and inspect the unit and take the loop temperature. No problems encountered. I clean the air filters monthly (15 minute job). I have to look it up but I believe I put in about 3500 feet of horizontal loop. I think this is overkill but at the time I was expecting to expand the system to heat a hot tub and garage. As expected I have ample heat capacity in my loop. System has worked great since '96 and I don't regret the purchase at all.

 

[gmsssi]

In 1998 we put in a 4 ton, 3 zone ground source (3600 feet of horizontal loop) geo system in our 3200 sq/ft. log home at a price of $11,500. Average monthly power bill, with lots of continual operation appliances, is $135. Definitely worth it....I suggest purchasing the air filter system and if the unit is stored in the basement (like mine), purchase a de-humidifier or purchase the home demidifying system with the unit ($1,400, todays price). Last service call showed signs of oxidation. We were running a dehumidifier sporadicly in the basement for our comfort. Technician suggested continual operation as preventive maintenance, nothing serious at this time.

When we built the home I couldn't get gas out here in the boonies, so we are all electric. Well, if you saw one of my recent post, gas well drilling has just been completed on my property. Now we get free gas......go figure!

 

[DaveNay]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( whoa!! just got the price for a 3 ton, 4 zone geothermal heat pump system...26k. is it just me, or is that a wee bit high? out of my budget, that's for sure. i'm starting to think about it though and wonder if maybe the air to air could be played with. in my area, we do get enough of the below thirty to kick the heat strip in, don't really want propane back up..trying to get as independant of oil and electric company as i can (i'm one of those people who wants to install a micro hydro power station in my creek, but that's a later post). i'm wondering if one could build a cold frame around the condensor coil to take advantage of solar gain, maybe fill some drums with water to absorb the heat. i do some farming and hoop houses can really extend a season. i have lots of wood, am also thinking of marrying the system to a whole house wood furnace. what do you think? )</font>

Don't forget to investigate state and federal subsidies!!

I have been researching a windmill generator for our consistently windy property, and I have found the following site:

DSIRE Home

They list programs available from utilities, states and federal programs. Some of the available programs can be 50% matching of funds or more! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

If you are really interested in this type of energy source, don't skip this valuable option.

Dave