Hi - new to the forum... and need some advice.
We plan to build a smallish (1200 square feet) vacation cabin in the coming year. We have plenty of land, so would like to heat with a geothermal heat pump (horizontal piping) coupled with radiant floor heat, and pre-heating of our hot water for our electric hot water heater. We do not need air conditioning as the temperatures rarely hit 80F even at the height of summer.
We will only be able to visit the cabin every 3-4 weeks, and it gets cold in the winter (temps as low as -15F for lows, typical highs in the teens midwinter). We plan to keep the cabin heated while we are away (45F or so). So economics of geothermal are attractive to us.
Problem is we are learning that water to water heat pumps are not EngergyStar certified so they won't qualify for the 30% tax credit. Hopefully legislation will address this sooner or later, but in the mean time, I'm trying to figure out what options we have in terms of heat pump solutions. We really do NOT want forced air - we don't want the dust, or the noise of the fan, etc.
Are there heat pumps out there that qualify for the tax credit that are dual use? i.e. one we could use to qualify for the tax credit on the whole system, but not use the forced air portion of (use the water to water portion of only?). Is this economically better vs. just buying a water to water system and not getting the tax credit?
What kind of cost am I looking at for the heat pump in the above scenarios?
Thanks...
|