I had a water to water radiant geo unit installed in early 2009. Just found out because I saw it on the energy star web site that water to water units will not get the credit unless they are installed after December 1st 2009. My unit has a 3.3 COP & a 15.2 EER which would have qualified it at the time of installation in Feb 2009. Why would water to air qualify but water to water will not till a later date? Does anyone know the facts behind this?

Bill

Water to water heat pumps were not accepted as Energy Star qualified until the specification was rewritten and accepted on 12/01/2009. Energy Star approval is a requirement for eligibility for 30% residential tax credit.

Sorry!

Is your same system currently sold by the manufacture now energy star rated, after the rule change? If so, write to them and ask them for some sort of documentation that your system meets energy star guidelines.  So long as the exact same model you have is now energy star rated, you can argue that it's an energy star rated system. If not, or if the model number changed, even a little bit your out of luck. 

  

I was told by the manufacturer that my unit was approved as of Dec 1st. They told me to give them a little time to update their certification document on their web site and my unit model number would be on the certification sheet. I then would be able to print the sheet as my certification. I will then call the office of my federal representive and get her involved. If you think about this it makes you wonder how does Energy Star get to say the credit is NOT retroactive to Dec 1st. They don't make the law, they just qualify the equipment. If you look up the information release on their site you will see "not" is written just as I wrote it above. With capital letters. Really makes me mad! My unit qualified per energy star numbers at the time I installed it and I don't get to take the credit because the paperwork didn't get done in a timely manner? Not retroactive? Why not!! I thought the whole idea on this stimulus plan was to put money in the pockets of the public so they can then purchase more thus building the economy?

Bill

Getting your fed rep involved is the correct next step because it will take an act of congress to change the law.

If you care to look at the Energy Star GHP V3.0 specification process it is here-

http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=revisions.geothermal_heat_pump_spec

IRS Guidance says something like the equipment has to be Energy Star qualified at the time the expenditure is made.

http://energystar.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/energystar.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5601&p_created=1237212338&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=5601&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MSwxJnBfcHJvZHM9MCZwX2NhdHM9JnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9NTYwMQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1

If it was me, I'd throw a 1 in front of every date that said 2/1/2009, so now it says 12/1/2009. and take the tax creidt.  The odds of getting an audited and them picking this up are very low.

I feel for you, I installed my system last year and the tax credit is now $2,500 more than the 2k I was able to take in 2008 AND my state is offering 0% interest financing, where they gave me a 6% rate last year.  I also purchased a house in 2008 and now they are giving away 8k tax credit, I have lousy timing.

This link says something about the law being retroactive for residents:
http://www.geoexchange.org/stimulus-bill-increases-homeowner-tax-credit.html?Itemid=

Didn't read it too closely but maybe it'll help.