Dear forum. I am planning on building a concrete home that is going to be very well insulated (earth sheltered). There was some consulting company that was highly recommended for properly sizing an HVAC and heating system for a relatively small fee (under 300, if I recall correctly) I am not sure if it was on this forum, or somewhere, but I couldn't find it in my bookmarks. Can someone recommend such a firm? Thanks, -andrey

No competent HVAC designer can/would do a complete design for less than 300 --depending on size--. Particularly true if you are incorporating space and DHW with proper ventilation (ERV).

I have found that you can bet what you pay for, but vary rarely get anything for free...

I think I found what I was looking for (Energy Wise Structures), but looks like they focus on ICF buildings, and I am not sure they consider technologies that I am considering (e.g. Solar Water heating, or earth sheltered).
Also, upon searching the forum, the service might cost higher than I had a recollection (~1000).

I sent them an inquiry. My building is going to be roughly 2000 sq feet, plus garage/basement.

Modeling the heat loads of earth sheltered high-mass homes is outside the range of standard HVAC software tools, (definitely not something well modeled by Wrightsoft, etc.), but it's not impossible.

The total conditioned space floor area is a completely irrelevant data point to start from. The total amount of window/door/wall area exposed directly to the exterior and their U-factors will be the primary starting point, and is the part of the load that will have the biggest response to the hourly outdoor temps. But calculating the dynamics of the high thermal mass of the soil inside the insulation boundary get's pretty messy/fuzzy with many factors to consider (some many not be known, or will vary from year to year), but those load changes will shift with weekly, monthly, or full-seasonal outdoor temperatures, not the binned hourly weather data. Calculating the latent cooling loads may be little more than a WAG, depending on how well you think you can seal it from ground moisture drives.

A dirt-mass loving designer like Brian Carsten (posts here as zehboss) can probably do a far better job of estimating/modeling the loads of an earth sheltered house than any HVAC contractor would. I've not used him nor have I seen third party verification of how his houses perform, but he's not a newbie at it- low cost high performance dirt-mass designs are his passion.

For the last few months I have been learning more about Brian Carsten's H.I.D.E.N. System by corresponding with him and also visiting his job site.  There is much more there than meets the eye at first glance.  It does take some study to grasp the concept and the method of building.  Since Brian is the designer/builder of his systems, I have a great teacher.

Posted By Dana1 on 21 Feb 2013 02:02 PM
"Modeling the heat loads of earth sheltered high-mass homes is outside the range of standard HVAC software tools, (definitely not something well modeled by Wrightsoft, etc.), but it's not impossible."
There you go again...hhehehee Wrightsoft has the flexibility to model nearly all HVAC scenarios since every aspect of building construction is available to the experienced designer. Modeling earth shelters is frankly no more difficult than modeling a walk-out basement. In fact, since mechanical control of ventilation is mandatory and infiltration/fenestration all but nonexistent, I see the real challenge in designing HVAC systems for Earth shelters, SIP, ICF or any well-built home is ventilation and possible cooling loads from people and appliances (fully covered in current version of Wrightsoft). Still, no one who invests in the software will do it for free and those who presume to do it long hand or magical "rule of thumb" (present company excepted) must be looked at with the jaundiced eye.

You need to have a manual J heat loss/heat gain performed on the home and a good heating contractor should do this for you. In my area(and i have heard it does vary greatly by location) we perform and provide a free manual J with every heat pump or ground source heat pump or radiant system we sell, but we do not provide the data until after the contract is signed and down payment received.

This is apparently an old post that has been invigorated...

Our experience has shown that product retailers that offer free design service (and often feign competence) do this to entice customers to purchase their over-priced and often shoddy products, and often incompetent service. We always recommend applying due diligence when dealing with any company that associates design with their product purchase. We recommend using a licensed/experienced professional engineer to perform the analysis/design and using a licensed/experienced HVAC contractor to install the system.