Hi all,

I have been trying to convince the 'higher ups' to install geothermal in one of their buildings.  The building is about 100,000 square feet and uses about 175 tons.  The building is located in lower NY and currently has gas heat. 

I have received two rough estimates from local geothermal contractors in NY but one was $800,000 and the other was 2.2 million.  This was the first problem.  How could the prices be so different?

The higher ups want to see some case studies with actual prices and energy savings.  They really want to see how much the inside is going to cost compared to the outside (drilling and piping).  I have looked around the web but can not find anything.

Can anyone help?

Thanks

Do a google search for geothermal case studies.   There are 1,300,000 results .

As far as the two bids go,  they can't be offering the same service.   On a project that size, you are in the drivers seat.  Ask for a detailed breakdown of what is included also  a price just for the drilling and piping.  Say that in order for the bid to be considered they need to give you the information you want.

Ask them  for the heat load numbers they are using to size the system.  Each bidder should have comparable  heat load numbers.

At some point you might want to hire a Mechanical Engineer to do the heat loads and design the system,  then have contractors bid according the specs from the engineer.

You can go to this site for a list of contractors and designers in New York.

Good luck and keep us informed.

Thanks for the info.  I have looked on google for case studies but as far as I can tell they do not list the costs or actual savings.  If the case study lists 1 million for a project, how am I supposed to know if that is 500K for the duct work and pumps and 500K for the drilling.  Also, what are the actual energy savings not just projected?  Are people happy with their geothermal systems?

How many stories high is the building?

You should really hire a good mechanical engineer to size and design the system. Then have it bid out. Then you'd have more comparable bids.

Is there any truth to the DOE's estimate of 4,000 dollars per ton for installation.

Some .....
We have done some jobs that were $4000 per ton.
We have done some jobs that were $8000 per ton.

A simple 5 ton job would probably go for $20,000.

A simple 2 ton job would cost more than $8000 unless there was no loop to be put in... i.e. a well already in place.


List price on a 12 ton pump is about $13,500 or about $1125 per ton

List price on a 6 ton heat pump is about $,8600 or about $1433 per ton.

List price on a 2 ton heat pump is about $5000 or about $2500 per ton.

So you can see how a large job could be $4000 per ton, but there is no way a small job could be $2000 per ton.