Thanks.  The only heat is radiant floor w/ geothermal.  The main floor is 2600 sq. ft and has 4 zones set to 64-68, never higher.

The unfinished basement also has radiant heat and the only zone is set to 60.  Since we insulated it (joist bays and interior wall with 2 in. of rigid foam sealed with spray foam) the temp reads 63/64, so I don't think the heat turns on down there.  The basement is a walk-out with about 15' of exposed wall.

The geothermal unit is composed of 2 parts, one is an Econar Geosource 2000 heat pump and the other is an Econar Pump Pak, model #GPP-2s25-1-A. Both the geothermal and radiant floor were installed by Eagle Mtn.

The source of hot water is a propane tank.

I don't think, but I don't know, if there is any type of emergency heating backup.  How do I tell?

Thanks so much for your help.

Christine

The geo unit is not metered separately, but they told me that they could install one at extra cost if I wanted.  Do I need to do this?

The basement slab is insulated.

The buffer tank has no electrical connection, so I guess that means we don't have emergency back-up.

I don't have any of the heat loss calc. info.  Any idea where to look?  Should I contact Eagle Mtn.?

Appliances are new and consist of refrigerator, freezer, 2nd freezer in garage, electric oven, dishwasher, front-loader washing machine, propane dryer, propane cooktop, microwave, 1 computer, 1 TV, 1 strand of christmas lights on a timer in the chicken coop. All lights have energy saving bulbs. Only other thing I can think of is a plug in electric warmer in an outdoor water trough for livestock. I can't for the life of me think of any other energy hog that is used in the winter that is not during the summer.

I have been very happy with my interactions with Eagle Mtn. That is why I have a hard time believing it is the geo unit or installation, but with all the effort we have put into additional insulation and air sealing, I was so distressed  when I got our last electric bill and saw that our ave kw usage has gone up to 129 from 85, and it was warmer this year.

If their electric provider is the same as mine (NYSEG) there are no special rates for geo or electric heat as far as I know. There is a day/night option that might save a bit, but its not a fantastic deal.

The 670 is a pretty big unit for a house that size. Assuming the load is close to its capacity (does it run nearly all the time on the coldest days?), you'd be looking at an annual bill of $1500-2000. But absolute worst case, it shouldn't have averaged more than 100kWh/day for Feb. Are you reading your meter each month, or is it being estimated? In my experience the algorithm NYSEG uses to estimate usage is worthless, so I'd disregard any readings except ones you took or the company actually read.

A seperate meter for the heat pump is purely a matter of personal preference. For me it is a necessity as I am obsessive about tracking energy use. It is certainly useful in troubleshooting and optimizing efficiency. There are pretty good low-cost meters available in the $50-$100 range, and it should be a simple matter for an electrician to install it.

I should have asked what the slab was insulated with - hopefully rigid foam, the bubble/tarp products don't do much good under a slab. You mentioned a lot of problems with insulation and infiltration - have you had an energy audit with an infrared scan, blower door test, etc?

Are the temps you quoted at the heat pump or the buffer tank? a 30deg delta T at the heat pump is high and might indicate a low flow condition. Econar's spec is in the 10-15deg range.

Do you know if the buffer tank is controlled with an outdoor reset control (does the tank temp vary with outdoor temp?) If not, installing one could save you 20-30%. Assuming everything is working as it should and you are just stuck with a poor building envelope this might be the only way to improve performance significantly.

Our utility company is NYSEG. When I talked to them before, they did offer day/night metering, but I didn't chose it because I didn't know if our ESCO would give us a different rate.  I see on their website that they offer "time of use" metering if more than 35,000 kw is being consumed in a year.

Our trough heater doesn't have a thermostat, it just stays on all the time.  I'll see if I can look up the brand and find out the estimated kw use.  The first year we were in the house, we didn't have the trough heater and the bill was close to $600/mo. by January.  That was when we kept some of the thermostats at 70 degrees.

I'll try to find heat loss calculations.

The construction company was Bristol Builders/DGA.  The problems appear to be due to both.  The architectural firm was using the construction company (with whom they told us they had worked on other projects) to give us an estimate before we went to blueprints.  The estimate was in our contract with the architects.  After giving the construction company the rough details of their plan, we were told that the construction company balked at the complexity and the number of hours involved to estimate.  They would only estimate if we agreed not to pursue bidding the project out.  We balked and the architects told us that using someone else to estimate the project would be very expensive and they had worked with the builder on other projects and thought very highly of him, and in light of the complexities of the project they thought it would be wise to go with him.  They also extolled the virtues of having a builder on board early on to give cost saving ideas and suggestions.

The line is pretty murkey as to who did what, who knew what, and who authorized what.  What was in the plans, materials and specifications is not necessarily what we got.  Apparently there were some "deals" or "conversations" that we were not privey to.  There was substition of materials and deviation from the plans of which we had no knowledge. For example the basement was not insulated, it was called for in the plans and it is NY state. The builder produced a note with what appears to be the architects hand-writing that directs him not to insulate the basement.  The builder claims we ok'd it.  We did not.  Why would we ok that when it would not save us any money and we were trying to build a "green home" spending extra on geothermal and a green roof?  The architect claims it was not him that wrote the note, but as our inspector pointed out, why didn't he note the glaring ommission when he did the final walk through.

Since we knew nothing of construction, we hired the architects for full services.  This meant they were to inspect the project (they said about every 2 wks) and make sure that the plans were followed as specified.  They probably came about 7-8 times over the year it took to build.  Rarely bringing up any issues, and certainly not any major ones.  When the build said 3 months into the project that he would not guarantee the metal 5-V crimp roof and said that we should change the roof material to either asphalt or standing seam metal (at our cost), we asked our architect what we should do.  He only stated that they put that same roof on another house and left it at that.  So, we up-graded to the standing seam at an additional cost of $7500 to us, because we wanted to have it guaranteed!  Funny thing is, that this, or rather the flashing to this, did leak. I have only touched on the surface of some of the problems of the house, as to discuss them all would take to much time and give all a headache.

From my limited knowledge of construction and from the various professionals, builders, and others that have inspected the house, the consesus is that both design and construction are issues.  At this point however, we just want to know what we have to do to fix the house, but it is so difficult because we can't believe the builder or architects say is there, the plans are not reflective of what's really in the house, and we have to rely on pictures taken during the construction process and our own investigations by removing drywall, soffits, etc,  as well as all the kind people who have been trying to help us on this site.

Yes, about 2000' of the main floor is slab on grade.  I think that there is only insul-tarp under it, but I need to review construction photographs to be sure.

I'm going to look at the temps closer and see what observations I can come up with.