My old furnace needs also soon be replaced. Thanks for your kind replys.

Hi,

I can tell you what motivated this homeowner to switch.  We also had an oil furnace that worked fine, and that we replaced new about 20 years ago (still about 80% combustion efficiency).  Most of the time, we heated with wood, though.  I cut my own from our property, and couldn't have heated my house more economically.  Wood heat had it's issues, though.  Lots of work, temperature swings, and cold areas in the house were the major problems.  I injured my back this summer working on my wood supply badly enough to take me out of the wood heating business, likely for good.  I was faced with either dumping my money into an oil budget plan, or looking at alternatives.  Geo heat was an excellent choice in our area of NY (cold winters with a lot of cloudy days, and moist soils with a high water table).  We had an energy audit done on the place first, and then got a couple of geo quotes.  The bottom line is that, financially, it was a no-brainer.  The geo should pay itself off over oil in about 7 years (and that was using $3.45 / gal oil pricing for the comparison) with the 30% federal credit factored in .  I don't think I'd get any arguments on this forum, by saying that there's just no future in oil and propane.  I might not have made the switch if we had access to natural gas, but I still would have looked at it seriously.

The system's been operational for the last 2 weeks and we couldn't be happier.  The house stays within a degree of the 68 we have it set at.  There are no cold spots in the house, and you rarely notice when the system is running.  Geo heat does not dry the air out like my wood or oil heat did, and the geo system filters the air much better than the other methods did.  Not bad for a retrofit of an old 1840's vintage farm house (albeit, with many upgrades).  We are also heating all of the house, where previously we closed off unused bedrooms and the rooms upstairs in order to get the wood heat to the rooms we used.  The true test will be in Jan and Feb, but so far, it looks like the geo heat will only make a 200-300 kwh impact on my electric usage for the month of Nov.  The house is about 1400 sq ft and we have a 3 ton climatemaster tranquility 27 installed with a ground loop.  We found a fantastic installer and I have absolute faith that it will work as designed.

Mostly money. With no tax credit geo pays back it's own cost quickly against oil or propane. With the tax credit, most of my customers get their money back in the first five years.
Other things are true as well however, maintenance requirements are less frequent than gas or oil, comfort is often improved. Some like not having CO makers in their homes etc.
If you are shopping for geo, look at our shoppers guide for some thoughts.

I agree - with electric, oil or propane, it's a good idea in most areas. With nat gas, consider how long you will own the house.

It came with the house I brought, I thought Geo was a brand of small cars made by General Motors. Well maybe not that bad, all I knew what is was suppose to be the most efficient heating method, but really had no idea how it worked. My assumptions were all wrong, and volcanic lava had nothing to do with it. But I learned a lot doing research and this site provided a wealth of information. I "switch" to Geo after the original system I purchased with the house when kaput and I had to educate myself what to replace it with. I'm currently half converted, I have a two zone system, zone one which to downstairs is Geo, zone two which is the 2nd and 3rd floors is an Air Source Heat Pump, and is made by Satan Inc, at least in the winter when I see my heating bills raise because of it.

What motivates home owners switch to geo?  MONEY 


Or at least the money you can save by switching to it.
     

Posted By 037614 on 20 Nov 2011 06:12 PM
My old furnace needs also soon be replaced. Thanks for your kind replys.

Where are you located?  What kind of furnace?  A homeowner should have a cost analysis done to determine what their utility savings may be.

Posted By TechGromit on 30 Nov 2011 05:21 PM MONEY 

Or at least the money you can save by switching to it.

Ditto.  For us, savings on utility expenses will pay for the incremental cost of our system (vs conventional 13 SEER air-source heat pump) in less than 6 years.  With unit longevity possibly in the 20 year range, the numbers more than work in our favor. 

Unfortunately, most home owners and installers don't know and can't measure what the savings actually are. The best you can usually get is "estimated COP will be around 3.5 - but no guarantee".

Removed by me.

Bergy

Sesmith, I'm glad it worked out for you.

What is the (RLA) running load amps for your 3 ton Climatemaster Tranquility 27?
The nameplate on your compressor should list both, LRA & RLA. Thanks

Funny thing it came down to money for us too.  

Built a new house !4 years ago.  No natural gas in the street, I didn't have a great source for wood, and I knew we were stretching our budget to get into the house, and wouldn't be able to afford the house if we were paying for propane or oil to heat it every month.  We were backed into geo even if I wasn't in the commercial HVAC industry and had a growing interest in geothermal. 

I had the sheetmetal done and unit set by an experienced local contractor and I did the plumbing and controls myself.  It's pretty simple 3 ton climate master 27 pump and dump.  We needed a well anyway, so we went with a constant pressure system, so far it has been great.  The well driller told me the pump is only lifiting the water 40-60 feet, total depth to bottom of the pipe is about 90'.   The water quality is relatively good with some calcium and lime no iron detectable so far.   All told the premium I paid over hi efficient forced air unit was $3,615.  That includes the separate drainfield for the dump water to go back into the ground and 1/2 the upcharge for the constnat pressure well system.  After taking the $2,000 rebate for 2008, my cost difference was around $1,600.  I was cash positivie from the beginning due to rolling it into my mortgage and the simple pay back was just under 2 years.  

Since then I've been saving money and still trying to explain to friends and family how I heat my house with "cold" well water.   Best explanation I came up with:   It is like a chilled drinking fountain, where you can feel warm air on your feet/legs while your getting a cold drink.  Any time my thermostat calls for heat, the "drinking fountain" turns on, water is chilled and dumped down the drain.  The heat taken out of the water is captured in the unit distributed throughout my house with the fan in the unit. 

That's a great example of where geo really pays off - without a big upfront investment.

Who was in charge of the construction of the drainfeild for your dump? Did they use any software or just local knowledge to accomplish the task?
The reason I ask is that it often comes up and the results from stormwater management software is not really on target.
Eric

Cost savings and thus minimizing utility costs for my retirement were my motivation. I had already invested in solar thermal for hot water and photovoltaics for electricity (8.6kw system). Geo at first seemed to have too much up front cost, but then I learned that I could utilize my overflowing well and go with open loop which is a substantial savings over the ground loop. So I am generating most of my electricity and once I get rid of the oil (still have to install the second floor), everything will be on electric and I won't have such a big problem with increasing utility costs. Now gas for the car is another story. I have only been on the geo for a few weeks but I am loving it. Early indications are great on the electricity usage and the comfort level with radiant floor heat is tremendous.

Posted By 037614 on 22 Dec 2011 10:08 AM

Sesmith, I'm glad it worked out for you.

What is the (RLA) running load amps for your 3 ton Climatemaster Tranquility 27?
The nameplate on your compressor should list both, LRA & RLA. Thanks

RLA 16.7, LRA 82.0

Usually cost savings. On new construction it's often a no brainier the extra mortgage payment vs lower utility bills makes you cash flow positive from day one and you get a big credit. One customer did it just because it was the right thing. I had another customer go geo because he could get a 14% return on his money guaranteed and in the market he was getting 2-3% guaranteed at best plus it may up his home value depending on the buyer so there was really no loosing for him.

Waterpirate - I did some rough calculations for the dedicated heat pump drainfield and told the excavator what to dig.  It's a single 3 inch perforated pipe resting on a 1 to 1.5' feet deep bed of gravel, that is 75' long and 3' wide.  I figured out it even if there was zero drainage into the soil around it, the unit could run for hours and hours at full flow (6 gpm- 2nd stage) and not fill the drainfield.  Since we have very sandy subsoil, I doubt more than the first 10 or 15 feet of this drainfield ever get wet. 

 

Posted By sesmith on 22 Dec 2011 07:40 PM

Posted By 037614 on 22 Dec 2011 10:08 AM

Sesmith, I'm glad it worked out for you.

What is the (RLA) running load amps for your 3 ton Climatemaster Tranquility 27?
The nameplate on your compressor should list both, LRA & RLA. Thanks

RLA 16.7, LRA 82.0

Did you choose single phase or 3 phase?

Posted By 037614 on 27 Dec 2011 01:42 PM

Posted By sesmith on 22 Dec 2011 07:40 PM

Posted By 037614 on 22 Dec 2011 10:08 AM

Sesmith, I'm glad it worked out for you.

What is the (RLA) running load amps for your 3 ton Climatemaster Tranquility 27?
The nameplate on your compressor should list both, LRA & RLA. Thanks

RLA 16.7, LRA 82.0

Did you choose single phase or 3 phase?

I didn't wire it, but no 3 phase at my house, so it's got to be single phase, using both legs.