I am trying to decide between the Climate Master, 3 ton Tranquility 27 Series, TTV038 and the Waterfurnace Geothermal Envision 3 ton unit.

The more I read, I still can't make up my mind.  Most everything I read indicates a holding tank for the hot water is very necessary.  Climate Master uses the hot water holding tank, but the Waterfurnance dealer goes right into our regular hot water tank and doesn't believe the holding tank is necessary.

I'm concerned because the piping on the ClimateMaster is going down 4.5 ft and the Waterfurnace will go down 5 ft.  Not sure that 4.5 ft is enough on a horizontal closed loop system.  The piping on the CM Tranquilitywill be trenched and for the WF Envision a backhoe will be used.

I'm a bit concerned about the 5 yr parts/warrenty on the CM.  I very much like the 10 yr warranty on the WF.

The waterfurnace is $2,192.00 more than Climate Master....a big difference.  Estimated calculations for energy costs show the CM estimated to be $26 cheaper per year than the WF.  Any savings is going to be a blessing as we are converting from fuel oil heat.

Any and all input will be greatly appreciated. 

Thank-you,

M

M,
Try asking this question over at: OurCoolHouse. They talk Geo!

Why desuper won't work well w/o preheat tank:

Deploying a desuperheater for domestic hot water generation without a separate preheat tank is a false economy. At issue is rate of generation vs use of domestic hot water as well as time of generation vs use.

Consider rates: A shower, load of wash or similar gets done in under an hour and a storage water heater, whether gas or electric, recovers fairly quickly, within an hour or so. The interval while the tank is partly filled with cold water is invisible to the user since storage water heaters are cleverly designed to keep the water stratified (lighter hot water is kept at top of tank)

A desuperheater, on the other hand, takes several hours, perhaps longer, to generate a tank of hot water. The relatively rapid recovery of the regular water heater denies the desuperheater the time it needs to generate hot water. Half measures can be taken such as lowering the bottom element temp setpoint on an electric heater but this is far from optimal as it still reduces the volume of water availabile for desuperheating as well as causes recovery problems for the regular heater.

Consider time of use: Hot water use tends to occur at the ends of the day - first thing in the morning or when residents return for the evening. Desuperheaters generate during periods of high cooling or heating demand. Cooling is maximized midday, heating late at night. Production does not coincide with demand.

Use of a preheat tank solves all these issues. The desuperheater gets the coolest possible water for maximum heat transfer, the desuperheater has all day or all night to generate hot water, and the extra volume of the preheat tank compensates for the time difference between generation and use. Higher waterflow, yielding better heat transfer is allowable without fear of mixing / destratifying the primary tank. Finally, there is no need to compromise with lower element temperature settings.

A preheat tank in the form of a non-energized storage-type electric water heater can be had for well under $200. The only issue is installation space, but frankly, I wouldn't bother with a desuperheater unless space were available for the preheat tank. Add-on desuperheaters were all the rage years ago, but fell by the wayside for failure to produce the promised savings, in large part owing to the limitations cited above.

If space is truly a limiting factor, consider using a regular storage heater for preheat and have it feed the inlet of a tankless unit. This arrangement provides the savings of a preheat tank within the space of a single tank, albeit at the greater cost of the tankless unit. Overall efficiency may be a tad higher since tankless avoids some of the (often greatly exaggerated) standby losses of a conventional storage tank.

what is the proper way to pipe in preheat tank through desuper?

See my post at "Newguy - what is a desuperheater"

Thank you for the help with the storage tank Engineer.

I don't know if this is an advantage or not but WF is in Fort Wayne only a few hours away and CM is in Oklahoma city.

Mella,
I install equipment in your area (Temperance/Lambertville) and put the loops in the 5 foot range, but that is a rule of thumb. Most of us do not engineer every loop system exactly, we tend to add a little extra to ensure the results desired. The folks you are shopping with have to warranty results, so they will make sure it works.
As far as the equipment you're looking at the refrigeration components of the Climatemaster are warrantied for ten years, and those are the most expensive repairs. Climatemaster also does not have protected dealerships, and does have state wide distributors (vs direct shipments to dealers), so I feel it could be cheaper and easier to get the unit repaired once warranties are expired if your installing contractor is no longer available.
The cost of the equipment and quality are nearly equal.
Frankly what disturbs me the most is that you are being directed towards the most expensive equipment. A single stage system would cost considerably less to install and likely only only a few bucks more to operate as it has more waste heat for hot water generation.
As far as the operating cost difference between the two units you looked at, their performance is so close that it is could be a result of the measurements the guys took of your house. These costs are estimates not exact numbers.
Before you buy you need to price up a single stage unit. That's where you might save money.
Joe
AMI