geothermal heating

brengelk755912

I am considering installing a geothermal heating system in a new house I'm about to have built in Hicksville.

Do you have any thoughts one way or another on the pros & cons.

I also have been advised that the forced hot air systems are now the systems of choice in many new homes of up scale building

I have never been a big fan of hot air heating but have been told of the many advances that have been made to eliminate the old problems.

Please give me your thoughts on these two items

Troy_3

Geothermal

Is a great choice when combined with radiant heat. Blowing air is ok for cooling but to heat people it will always be less than comfortable. Moving air (even warm air) across the human body is our natural cooling system. Warm air is also lighter and tends to rise. So unless you hang out on the ceiling you will always be in the cooler zone of the room. The higher the ceiling the more stratification occurs. We have had great success with high velocity cooling and radiant floor heat being supplied by a geothermal system. It also generates about 30% of your domestic water heating. To understand the economics you have to compare utility costs vs. installation costs. The system I have described will be much more up front but bring the best comfort at the lowest operational cost. Anybody that says they can make blowing air as comfortable as a warm floor doesn't get it. IMHO

Phil_22

geothermal

I am also located in Hicksville and would like to see the system as it is being installed if thats possible. Have been considering useing geothermal but have heard conflicting opinions. If this is possible please call me at 516-987-7861 Thanks Phil

GW

It's all in the installation. An air system can be very even heat, or it can blow. The articles you've read- take them with a grain of salt. If you have a lot of money, have the same ground source heat your hot water heating and also your AC.

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Craig Bergman

Search

At the top of the page is a search option. Search "Geothermal" and you should get some good threads to come up.

Bergy

Craig Bergman

Search

At the top of the page is a search option. Search "Geothermal" and you should get some good threads to come up.

Bergy

Patrick Mullaney

A Homeowner's Perspective

I just did a retrofit in a 20 year old house. It was time to replace my old worn-out heat pump with poor energy efficiency. I went with the latest Waterfurnace model the Envision - it has an enerygy efficiency rating of 30 - cannot be beat (last I checked).

As for the blowing air, I would tend to agree that circulating air does have a cooling effect compared to radiant. In my case, I have a 2 stage pump and the fan is always on and always circulating air at an unperceptible level. With my previous system, there were definitive cold and hot spots in the house and when the system was on, it felt "cooler" due to the circulating air. With the new system, the house is a uniform temp and we do not notice the blowing air in stage 1 (the system has not gone in to stage 2) mostly due to the constantly circulating air. Air seems cleaner as well.

We produce DHW with our system and for a family of four in the heating season, we have seen more available hot water in the house. I mention it is heating season becasue the system only dedicates about 10% of the heat to the DHW in heating mode - 100% in cooling mode. We just put in the system in november, so no AC used yet (cannot wait though).

We added an extra air purifier to the system. One thing I should have added was a humidifier, but $$ was becoming an issue. It may get added on at a later time.

Baed on what I know now after research and usage, if I were building from scratch, I would put in a geothermal system and use it as describe in this thread: radiant for heat, air for cooling with DHW. I am pretty sure waterfurnace makes a model meeting these requirements.

Just a copule thoughts from a homeowner.

Ken D.

Geo

I use Florida Heat Pump (FHP). Good unit. Geo is very efficient. They are a proven winner. I believe the better way is to keep the bells and whistles to a minumum. The more accessories, the more to go wrong.

Bob Depew

Geo Thermal

I know some will not think this right but if you are borrowing the money. Figure out how much more it cost to do it and add the extra interest it going to cost you to the utlity bills. That is the true yearly cost to operate the system.

Patrick Mullaney

Tax Deductions

> I know some will not think this right but if you

> are borrowing the money. Figure out how much more

> it cost to do it and add the extra interest it

> going to cost you to the utlity bills. That is

> the true yearly cost to operate the system.



Except if the finance charge is tax deductible, then you must determine the impact of the deduction on your ROI.

Patrick Mullaney

Tax Deductions

That also depends if your finance charge is tax deductible or not.