Geothermal Prices

Constantin

but I can tell you that we don't discuss prices here. No one knows the specifics of your home, the site, etc. well enough anyway to make a good judgement call. Anecdotally, I can tell you that a geothermal outfit I spoke to up here in MA wanted more money than that for a similar-sized system.

Up front, I'd investigate ways to reduce the need for heating and cooling via a better envelope/insulation/etc. That'll provide a better return than just about any heating system.

rbalaster

What should I be paying for a geothermal system

I have been quoted $6500 (tax not included) for five 225 ft wells, the piping, manifolds and pressure testing all sized for a five ton system.

The rest of the system is a five ton 27 SEER Waterfurnace with domestic hot water and 20kw aux. heat. This includes all installation and startup but no ductwork (already existing) for $8000.

I have a roughly a 2500 sqft house and think this may be a bit oversized - but regardless I need to know if this has been padded. I live in central Arkansas and there are not to many companies handling Geothermal installs.

Thanks for any information you can provide

jwade55_3

Constantin is correct on price discussions,

however as far as wellfield goes, most drillers in my area charge by the foot, and a fixed set up fee, so that part of Geo projects seem fairly standard, here anyway, SW Pa and WV.

J

Craig Bergman

Seems a bit...

oversised. Is your house not well insulated? Do you not have good windows and doors? If not, have those updates done FIRST!!! Improving your envelope is as much of an investment as a Geo system.

If you do have a good envelpoe with 2500 sqft, 5 tons with 20 KW strip heat seem high. Our company is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and we would "normally" install a 3 or 4 ton unit with nothing more than 10 KW strip.

Go to www.geocomfort.com and follow the link to "find a dealer." Geo Comfort is made for Enertec by WFI and their dealers are VERY well trained.

Hope this helps.

Bergy

You need to make sure that a complete heat lose, heat gain
was done on your home. The Geo unit should handle about 95% of the heat lose at design temp, with the strip heat making up the rest. (At least that's the way we design them in Iowa for a -5 design temp.)

Craig Bergman

Seems a bit...

oversized. Is your house not well insulated? Do you not have good windows and doors? If not, have those updates done FIRST!!! Improving your envelope is as much of an investment as a Geo system.

If you do have a good envelpoe with 2500 sqft, 5 tons with 20 KW strip heat seem high. Our company is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and we would "normally" install a 3 or 4 ton unit with nothing more than 10 KW strip.

Go to www.geocomfort.com and follow the link to "find a dealer." Geo Comfort is made for Enertec by WFI and their dealers are VERY well trained.

Hope this helps.

Bergy

You need to make sure that a complete heat lose, heat gain
was done on your home. The Geo unit should handle about 95% of the heat lose at design temp, with the strip heat making up the rest. (At least that's the way we design them in Iowa for a -5 design temp.)

Craig Bergman

Seems a bit...

oversized. Is your house not well insulated? Do you not have good windows and doors? If not, have those updates done FIRST!!! Improving your envelope is as much of an investment as a Geo system.

If you do have a good envelpoe with 2500 sqft, 5 tons with 20 KW strip heat seems high. Our company is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and we would "normally" install a 3 or 4 ton unit with nothing more than 10 KW strip.

Go to www.geocomfort.com and follow the link to "find a dealer." Geo Comfort is made for Enertec by WFI and their dealers are VERY well trained.

Hope this helps.

Bergy

You need to make sure that a complete heat lose, heat gain
was done on your home. The Geo unit should handle about 95% of the heat lose at design temp, with the strip heat making up the rest. (At least that's the way we design them in Iowa for a -5 design temp.)

Craig Bergman

Seems a bit...

oversized. Is your house not well insulated? Do you not have good windows and doors? If not, have those updates done FIRST!!! Improving your envelope is as much of an investment as a Geo system.

If you do have a good envelpoe with 2500 sqft, 5 tons with 20 KW strip heat seems high. Our company is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and we would "normally" install a 3 or 4 ton unit with nothing more than 10 KW strip.

You need to make sure that a complete heat lose, heat gain
was done on your home. The Geo unit should handle about 95% of the heat lose at design temp, with the strip heat making up the rest. (At least that's the way we design them in Iowa for a -5 design temp.)

Go to www.geocomfort.com and follow the link to "find a dealer." Geo Comfort is made for Enertec by WFI and their dealers are VERY well trained.

Hope this helps.

Bergy

Craig Bergman

Seems a bit...

oversized. Is your house not well insulated? Do you not have good windows and doors? If not, have those updates done FIRST!!! Improving your envelope is as much of an investment as a Geo system.

If you do have a good envelpoe with 2500 sqft, 5 tons with 20 KW strip heat seems high. Our company is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and we would "normally" install a 3 or 4 ton unit with nothing more than 10 KW strip.

You need to make sure that a complete heat lose, heat gain
was done on your home. The Geo unit should handle about 95% of the heat lose at design temp, with the strip heat making up the rest. (At least that's the way we design them in Iowa for a -5 design temp.)

Go to www.geocomfort.com and follow the link to "find a dealer." Geo Comfort is made for Enertec by WFI and their dealers are VERY well trained.

As far as prices... five vertical wells 225 ft deep is not a bad price. Loopers in this area , as a rule, charge about 1,200 per ton @ 150 ft for vertical bores. The Geoo unit is impossible to judge. That will depend on what must be torn out and reworked just to get the Geo unit set.

Hope this helps.

Bergy

rbalaster

thanks for the help

Thank you all for the responses...

My home was built in the '40s but is very solid.
I am in the process (and half done) of replacing all windows wind anderson 400 series. I have about half of the underside of the floors insulated. The attic insulation is lacking but I will be adding more when I finish converting it into a bedroom. Of course I told all this to the person that quoted me all this. I will be cutting some off of the actual inside unit quote as I will be handling most of the physical installation myself. I'm not too fond of other people cutting holes in my house. The well drilling is a bigger concern to me - I would really like to make sure it gets done right.


As a sidenote: While I admit that I am not a HVAC professional, I do think I can handle this installation. My father is an electrician and I do quite a bit of control voltage electrical work in my line of work - which includes ammonia refrigeration. While I do not know everything about Geothermal I am more than willing to learn. I can't stand driving the car without knowing what makes it go.

I will check out the geocomfort link and see what I come up with.

Again, thank you all for your insight.

Craig Bergman

I would not

advise you to take on this install. There is a long list of checks with Geo that must be done to insure proper and efficient operation of the unit.

For example... Water flow through the ground loop and Geo heat exchanger... Temprature differantial across the heat exchanger... Water flow through the Desuperheater... Voltage and amp draw of the unit... Proper air flow and temprature drop across the coil... just to name a few.

This is NOT a job for an untrained person! The amount of money you are about to invest is not small and should be protected by a professionally trained Geo designer / installer. You can find who is qualified in your area by going to the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association's web site. www.igshpa.okstate.edu.
Here is another web site you should visit. www.geoheat.oit.edu. Look for the Geothermal Heat Pump owner information survival kit link.

If done right, Geo WILL give you years of trouble free heating,cooling and hot water generation.

Bergy

JTHill

Sir,
Have you tried getting some other quotes? I also live in AR and might have a few to alternates. Send me an email if you are interested. bjec_1003@yahoo.com

JTHill

Sir,
Have you tried getting some other quotes? I also live in AR and might have a few to alternates. Send me an email if you are interested. bjec_1003@yahoo.com

Ken D.

Geo

Those prices don't sound bad for the east coast.

Tom_35

An opinion---

Our company is located in Ft. Smith and we have done geo-thermal heat pumps systems for nearly 25 years. Based on what we have seen on drilling, your quote seems very fair. Make sure the price includes purging of the loop and all grouting of the bores.

Be sure that you do get an "as is" load calculation performed on the house at it will be when you're completed. Windows do make a difference, and I would recommend Low-E for our area. We have found that the back-up heat very rarely comes into play in Arkansas with geothermal HP's, but you certainly want to have it installed just in case.

As some of the other posters said, you need to have a good knowledge of the systems to make sure it is operating correctly. At the very least, make sure to have a qualified company check out the system to fine tune its' operation if you do the installation.

Tom Atchley

rbalaster

install

The company I had quote this is very willing to work with me on the self install. I will have them check the system once it is functional. I really only wanted to check the cost. The only systems around our area that I know of are large scale gov't and commercial installs - so I couldn't base any pricing off of these. I'm on a budget (no money tree growing out back) but I don't mind paying for quality work as long as I'm not being ripped off. Once everything is initially running I will be trying to create some custom HMI controls and maybe zoning the system upstairs and downstairs. Right now I cannot afford to create zones with extra units so I will be using ducting and motor speed control.



I would like to thank everyone for their input and welcome any other suggestions.

Tom_35

zoning

You're better off with an auto zoning system that separate systems anyway. Consider an Arzel Zoning system---very easy to install on existing systems and works well.

For fan modulation, consider the FanHandler control. You can google FanHandler and get more info on this control.

Tom Atchley
Ft. Smith, AR

GH

GEO THERMAL

We just completed our first GEO and radiant heat project in
Ellicottville N.Y. The owner is a general contractor and
this is his own home.He is of the sort to share and is not in this line of work. To contact him 716-699-6288 and ask
for Kelly Fredrickson. Also contact GEO-OUTLOOK publication
1-800-626-4747 or mcarthl@okstate.edu. And last but not least check out our site GCS Radiantheat.com
Hope this is of use. Gary