Plan a new home in Central Pa. and I am sold on geothermal. The 30% tax break makes payoff easy and I plan to live there for 30+ years. I'm sorta locked on a company, Bryant, because that's what our home builder subcontracts. Here are the details of the home:

2100 sq. ft. (30 by 36 ft.) two-story home. R23 walls, R50 roof, good windows. Basement unfinished but plan to finish.
.6 acre of land

I plan to get Bryant's most efficient geo pump because it is a two-stage unit and has a very good thermostat and features (and uncle sam is covering 30% of it). I also want the desuperheater, humidity control and electric air purifier. Here is the unit: http://www.bryant.com/products/geoheatpumps/geo-gtpx.shtml

Installer says I need a 3-ton unit with 3 wells (each 150 ft deep).

1) Since I plan to finish the basement, is this enough?
2) Are the wells deep enough for the unit? He says he will go deeper or add more but at a cost, of course
3) He plans to connect the desuperheater to a 80-gallon electric water heater. Is it possible to use a propane heater with direct vent or better yet, a propane on-demand heater with the unit? Or do I need an auxiliary tank for the desuperheater to store the hot water? I'm trying to cut energy costs when possible. (solar water heat is out of my price range at this time and it's freakin cold around here.)
4) Am I missing anything else that I should ask for?

Thanks for the help. Any advice or links to more info would be appreciated.

1) Don't guess - make sure a load calculation gets done. Basements don't add much load, especially if insulation is placed below the slab

2) Depends on local conditions. Installer should have good local references and technical backing for his well design.

3) Desuper should have its own upstream unpowered / unfired storage tank. The 'finishing' water heater can be whatever you like

4) Ensure installer is experienced - check references carefully

I'm in State College, PA and you really need to get a Manual J heat loss/heat gain analysis done that includes your basement in the calculation to correctly size the unit.  You will end up with a slightly oversized unit until you finish the basement but a 2-stage unit can minimize problems.  I would also look at the geology under your house to determine if 150' per ton is enough since that is the minimum around here but this may be O.K. if you are in the Bellefonte-Axeman dolomite with is prety dense with a high thermal conductivity. Central PA is incredibly variable in soil cover/subsurface conditions, however.

You also definitely want the despuperheater connected to a preheat tank (unhooked electric tank) or you won't realize the benefits of the desuperheater.  Tankless units still have enough problems and have a long ROI so I would go with a standard electric tank.

-Adam
Hydrogeologist

Thanks for the replies. Installer said "casing" may be needed over well piping if soil conditions warrant it. What does that mean? Also, if 150 ft are the minimum, should I just ask for 175-200 ft.? Manual J was done, but just on the upstairs. I have option for propane heat in basement because I'll have propane but why bother? Also considered fireplace for aesthetics but know if inefficiencies.

Some subsurfaces require the installation of casing to hold the hole open due to unstable soil conditions.  Ideally this casing is temporary and is removed and many drilling methods allow such.  However, it sounds like they want to leave the casing in the hole in your case which is done with some drilling methods.  This may not be a problem if they use steel casing but PVC casing limits heat transfer and is thus not recommended. 

Fireplace does add some inefficiencies although you can't replicate a good fireplace in a space.

-Adam

It is 15 bucks a foot so I hope it's steel, or gold, or something.

He said he often doesn't use it. It's Fisher's out of Lewistown, Pa, I think. My house will be near Port Matilda, PA. California Hollow. No word on the soil conditions but wells are very common there.

How can I check a HVAC guy out? He subcontracts for a volume builder around here and I spoke to him. Does lots of geothermal and seemed very knowledgeable and proud of his work. Price seemed very good, too. About 20K for turnkey install from scratch.

Anyone know about the Bryant system? Also, are bigger wells always better? I assume you reach a point of no financial return at some point but I don't want to shortchange the system.

"I plan to get Bryant's most efficient geo pump because it is a two-stage unit and has a very good."

This is a relabled Climatemaster; they are fine.

"Installer says I need a 3-ton unit with 3 wells (each 150 ft deep)."

150'/ton is standard in mid MI. You could call it a minimum I suppose for resi, but no one goes larger either (99% of the time).

"Since I plan to finish the basement, is this enough?"

Difference between conditioned and unconditioned basement is only a few tousand BTU's. What's more, if you don't condition unfinised basement inspector could require duct insulation.

Check installer references. Get another opinion.
Good Luck,
joe

Is there any advantage with going with a Byrant over a Climatemaster? I would think buying from Climatemaster would be better since your dealing directly with the manufacture of the unit, rather than a Byrant which is just a re-label / re-seller.  Didn't this issue arise before, where re-labeled WaterFurnace units warranties where not honored by WaterFurance becaused they were re-labeled and re-sold by another outfit?  

I doubt that'll be an issue since Bryant is a long-established Carrier brand. Recall OP's builder specifies Bryant.

Key here will be ensuring builder's sub is an experienced and honorable geo installer.

Quite possible "Bryant" has a different warranty. Don't know they are sold by the same supply house around here. In relabel situ's, buyers often do not purchase warranty (to get a better price) that is where you find variation. Heat controller (another CM relabel) had longer warranties than CM (when last I used them).
Curiously Payne (another carrier label) had superior warranties to the Bryant fiurnace last year and the only difference was the name tag (installed at the distributor depending on what you wanted).
Carrier/Bryant are not without their skeletons on product warranty and currently have a class action law suit dictating their handling of a decade or so of faulty heat exchangers in 90+ furnaces.
j