Just made the decision to go Geothermal

[Smart Red]

Our furnace of 40 years bit the dust last spring although the repair man didn't make it out to check until mid September (despite several calls between May and September). We decided to have a geothermal system put in rather than another furnace.

It's a big hunk of change(?) to start out, but since we heat with fuel oil, we should break even in about 5-6 years and be on the energy PLUS side after that. Son, who expects to get the house someday, liked the idea and suggested we do it now. I figured there would be no better time than the present.

So, in a month or so, I'll be stealing heat from the Earth, but saving the air for posterity.

Anyone here have advice or experience with geothermal heating?

 

[sumi]

Not I, Smart Red, but please keep us posted. I'm curious about this system.

 

[Smart Red]

Will do.

I had five geothermal contractors come out and give me bids. The first one really sounded best, but it was not all that easy to keep the comparisons given as apples to apples. One preferred a loop field. I had already decided I wanted some type of deep bore system. One preferred a deep well, "pump and dump" system. While I have plenty of room and perfect conditions for that type of system, further research convinced me that I didn't want that either.

So, with everyone pretty much on the same page as to what I wanted, the main difference came to price. Three of the contractors had open-ended costs for drilling, coating, and such. That meant if the price they quoted was less than the actual price I'd have to make up the difference.

I got the first contractor down $500. He had no open-ended costs. He bid a larger unit with no need for a back-up system and I liked his professionalism. Lead up time will run about 4 weeks. I sure hope the weather, the furnace or both hold until the work is done. (The furnace went off sometime today. I'll worry about it in the morning.)

Son-in-law said it would run about $30,000. Yep! All the "apple to apple" bids were close to that price. The one I chose -- somewhere in the low middle -- was $27,500. Fingers crossed, here I go!

 

[sumi]

That is a huge investment! Fingers crossed it will go well and work well!

 

[Smart Red]

The final cost will be $27,000 rather than the $27,500 I'd thought. Of that 30% is reimbursed by the Federal Government on my 2914 tax forms. There are a few state and local tax credits for going GEO as well as possible Electric Company funds for "energy star" appliance credits.

These help to get the price down from ridiculous to merely laughable. When I count in the cost of the fuel oil I won't be using, pay back should be in only 5-7 years. All in all, it's not so bad if the whole picture is considered.

 

[sumi]

That's not too bad. It's a crazy big expense getting it installed though, but I think long term and after recouping some of the money it will be worthwhile.

 

[Smart Red]

Just made the first payment and signed the work contract. Also saw another site going Geothermal. It was a bit messier than I had imagined, but by next summer there should be no sign the Earth was disturbed in the front yard (I hope).

 

[sumi]

I hope they're not going to make too big a mess of your yard... How much space is this going to take up? More or less, do you know?

 

[Smart Red]

They will dig a 4x4 ft hole that is 8 feet deep for the manifold connection all the pipe runs. That will be the biggest of the messes. From there, they will run their drill down 30-40 feet at a slant and run another 145 ft or so horizontally under trees, buildings, field, etc. before coming back up that 30-40 ft. slant out in 5 directions from the manifold hole. Once back above ground, they thread the
pipe back through the drillings and eventually connect them back at the manifold before running the two pipes into the house. I don't expect those far out holes will be very big or very messy. We have 30 acres here. Quite enough to find drilling space.

When done, the underground runs will cover a circle (with 5 rays) that is over 400 feet from end to end. The manifold, too, will end up covered by 4+ feet of soil so eventually there will be no outward sign that we have geothermal heating until you check the basement itself.

 

[sumi]

That sounds like quite a big job. No wonder it's so expensive.