My New house and low utility bills

[JackMentink]

I know everybody is into the alternative building types and hightech insulation sytems, but most I've seen are not real cost effective and have very long paybacks.

When i built our new house two years a go I went with 6" stud walls, r-19 blown in cellulose, r-48 blown in celulose in the ceiling, and anderson 200 series low-e windows (lots of them as my wife is a sunshine fanatic. I paid attention to the house wrap to get it sealed on the outside, and put my energies in the heating system.

I installed a ground source heat pump with a open loop system that use my well that supplies water to the home to supply a geothermal source. ( I upsized the well pump to a 2 HP and put a variable speed drive on the pump).

I discharge the geothermal water into two 1500 gallon tanks that I use to irrigate my two acre lawn. The heat pump has a variable speed fan and four zones with four thermostats to keep the house perfectly temperate in all areas. The house is the most comfortable I have ever been in it cost less than conventional system as my electric cooperative gave me a 1700 rebate for the system.

The house is 4400 square feet finished with all of it heated and cooled to 73 year round.
It is about 2800 foot ranch over a full walk out basement. I live in Misouri and we have winter with lows of below 0 and summers over 100 for weeks.

The best part is the utility bills. The largest heating portion of the electric bill we have ever had was $45/month, with the largest summer cooling bill of $30/month.

Ground source heat pumps rock

 

[TigerfaninAR]

Sounds awesome. We are just in the planning stages and have heard of homes such as yours with low utility bills. I listen to Doug Rye quite often; don't know if you know who he is but you did just about everything he advocates in building an energy efficient home.

Great job!

 

[john_bud]

That is good.

I'm jealous of your low bills. Our service fees are higher than your bill! I have 40-50 bucks electric and total bill is 100.

 

[skidoo]

That's great!

Have you considered how it will affect your well over time? I have considered one too, but using the well has me concerned...

 

[MarkV]

That is good Jack!! Of course I have heard that the geothermal systems are also pretty expensive and have a long payback. It sure would be the way to go for a house you intend to stay in though.

I am interested in your system discharging into holding tanks. Can't say I have ever heard of anyone doing that before. How much water does it generate during, say a week in the heating season? Do you just drain it off during the winter when you are not watering?

Around here the systems working off a well normally discharge into another well. I have heard that the EPA is questioning that type of system and may stop the practice in fear of ground water contamination.

MarkV

 

[flusher]

I know everybody is into the alternative building types and hightech insulation sytems, but most I've seen are not real cost effective and have very long paybacks.

When i built our new house two years a go I went with 6" stud walls, r-19 blown in cellulose, r-48 blown in celulose in the ceiling, and anderson 200 series low-e windows (lots of them as my wife is a sunshine fanatic. I paid attention to the house wrap to get it sealed on the outside, and put my energies in the heating system.

I installed a ground source heat pump with a open loop system that use my well that supplies water to the home to supply a geothermal source. ( I upsized the well pump to a 2 HP and put a variable speed drive on the pump).

I discharge the geothermal water into two 1500 gallon tanks that I use to irrigate my two acre lawn. The heat pump has a variable speed fan and four zones with four thermostats to keep the house perfectly temperate in all areas. The house is the most comfortable I have ever been in it cost less than conventional system as my electric cooperative gave me a 1700 rebate for the system.

The house is 4400 square feet finished with all of it heated and cooled to 73 year round.
It is about 2800 foot ranch over a full walk out basement. I live in Misouri and we have winter with lows of below 0 and summers over 100 for weeks.

The best part is the utility bills. The largest heating portion of the electric bill we have ever had was $45/month, with the largest summer cooling bill of $30/month.

Ground source heat pumps rock

Interesting.
Have you figured the payback time for your heat pump system?

 

[GeneD14]

We took a similar route in our home construction: Anderson low-E windows, 2x6 walls, Tyvel house wrap, and a high efficency gas forced air furnace. We also installed an EPA rated wood burning furplace (Quadra Fire). We have been pleasantly surprised but so far we haven't had to run the furnace because the wood burner has worked out so well. So from October to warm weather in the Spring we haven't had any heat bill the last 2 years. YIPPEEEE!

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

Tell us more about your sytem, who installed, brand.....got any pics?

We are about 3-5 years out from building our home and I've done a lot of research on geo..........of course I want to do most of it myself so I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

Sounds great, good for you!

 

[john_bud]

Around here our wells get gummed up with iron deposits and you have to redrill deeper every 10 years or so.

I was thinking about a water loop getting heat from the ground, maybe from the ground water. Anyone have thoughts on those?

 

[RobJ]

As someone mentioned, whats the cost to put in all that high tech stuff. IE changing out windows can be expensive and have a long payback.

Also what are you paying for each KWH?

You would think power would be cheap in Texas...but we have some of the highest rates in the country.