I don't know what you guys are complaining about - you can build a perfectly good drilling rig here:

http://stores.ebay.com/Build-Drilling-Rigs-Supplies

I'm kidding of course, in case sarcasm doesn't come through the internet!

And when your done, you can power the it and your customer's geothermal with this - http://www.earth4energy.com/

Couple other brands as well.... Any way Seneca hit it right, youngest is 14 and while our house is not huge, my wife and I are not particularly into largess. Her thought and mine is smaller house, less to maintain. Supply shortages have started up in the past month. Our orders went from summer trickle to 1/wk to 2/wk........ Climatemaster is weeks out, ask your installer and I think you will find he is now 4 to 12 weeks out on WF. Nobody that I know of anywhere anticipated the demand. We actually have found another digger who starts 1 week from Sat. and a new pipe supplier. Any one who tries will even find shortages on fusion irons. Remember TG we're buying stuff by the mile not the foot. It takes time to find other material sources that ensure the quality we're accustomed too with out impacting the prices I have to pass along to my customers. I could of course employ a purchasing agent to shop for me......and charge my customers for his services, or have them wait a week or two. Seneca actually recieved the last 6 ton from a state wide supplier nearly 1 month ago. Severe rains have set us back to next week on his dig. After him Bgilette is next and then I don't know about turn-arounds for the others it is truly day by day.
New digger will help as well as new outlet for supplies, but time and material are finite.
Yes believe it or not the industry as a whole is caught with it's pants down. Good thing you didn't wait.
J

A few months ago Water Furnace lost about 1/3 of their business when Enertech ( who had been buying WF product and putting the Geo Comfort label on it ) bought the Hydron Company.  

It seems Enertech was having issues  with WF  not honoring warranty claims.    As a consequence,  you can get a WF heat pump delivered in about a week. 

The current thread about problems with WF not honoring their warranty seems to imply that WF has not learned much from the experience.

Ah, so it is the WF dealer network locally who can not deliver. That's even more interesting as they are telling consumers that they can't get heat pumps. Always good to spend thousands with liars.
Heard similar warranty complaints from a local dealer/distrib the other day who dropped the line after WF wouldn't cover motors from first generation vari speeds that dropped like flies. Any dealer knows that you need to honor the warranty wether or not manufacturer does, as cust. dissatisfaction costs more than a motor (just one more intangible not covered by the bean counter shopping approach).
The customer feed back on Water Furnace around here is very good, but their "protected" county wide dealer is the most expensive guy in town. So I have to believe that they have cost in uncompensated warranty work.
But we digress, wether the problem of supply short comings is a local issue or a national one, to believe that what's happening here won't affect your area is folly. If Climatemaster is out in MI for instance but has it at the plant, I can get it in about 2 weeks. If it is back ordered at the plant who knows (we have found for instance that copper heat exchangers are still available in some things where cupro nickel is not and turn around is lengthy).
So if you are thinking about geo, hurry up and decide. If you are a dealer, stock up on the little things- fittings, pipe, headers (the in expensive things that shut you down).
J

Now you tell me, I went with WF cause they were suppose to be the best geo vendor on the market. Well I hope there product holds up better then there warranty.

Every Mfg, like dealers have their quirks. I'm not a WF guy but continue to report favorable customer feed back as that's what I hear. We also harp over and over about dealer references and that he is the most important link in the chain as the good dealer's are the ones that solve problems first and fight with the Mfg later (a feature by the way often not accompanied by the lowest bidder).
If you did your homework on your installer, you'll be okay. The best geo vendor on the market, as far as I'm concerned, is determined by the best contractor in your market.
Many of the designers of the Envision went to CM and built the Tranquility which is not that different from the FHP two stage.....

The Waterfurnace running most expensive seemed to hold true for me as well. He priced about 4,500 more for what was nominally the same system Joe was recommending (yes different brand, but same tonnage, .1 or .2 less CoP). About 3,000 more if I wasn't looking at a 7 year financing option from them (I believe that was the length). He was a nice guy, but in general, I just had a better feeling with Joe. There's certainly something to be said for a guy that recommends you call his installs that went wrong! Or who knows, the WF guy's bid included a very fancy letter heard and included an agreement he wouldn't be smoking inside my house. I guess if Joe lights up I have less remedy.

I hope you are spared from  the horror tales we are hearing.

Did you read somewhere  unbiased that WF was good  or did the the glossy PR stuff win you over?
 Not that it matters at all,  just curious how mis-information gets spread and accepted by the unsuspecting public.

Again, I don't hear horror stories from WF buyers around here. So I have to believe the Installing contractors are doing their job. It's possible that I charge a little less as I haven't yet had to fight for warranty coverage. Every line has it's turd and while I've been lucky with geo I'm an Amana fossil dealer and they had a doozey in the 80's and 90's. My customer's have some of the last Amana HTM's in operation because their dealer takes care of them when things go wrong.
I'm sure your experience will be a good one TG as long asthe references were good for your installer.
The broader point of the "don't wait" thread is; the only thing that costs more to run than a poorly running geo system is.......everything else! Yes, repairs can be quite costly, but in my area, not having geo costs tens of thousands more in the long hall.
J

Not to belabor a point, but word on the street here is the electric company in MI that still offers a discount for electric heating will discontinue soon. The other cancelled in July. Our (clueless) Govenor signed a bill raising residential rates and reducing commercial industrial rates.
Don't wait if you want all electric discounts.
J

Now hiring. If you contractors out there are slow, commute here, I hired a third excavator this week and need either experienced tin knocker or service tech.
J

Don't forget the company still offering the rate is looking at a month out to get meters to people!