Need to pick your brains.....

Getting a quote for an install on Casa del Shovelhead.
Last years electric bills (Heat Pump/electric) were re-donk-ulous.

Address near Richmond Virginia
Quote for a 3,500SF house / 9' ceilings [2,400 up/1,100 down] (installed)

Contractor suggesting:
5 ton / 38 seer Aquarius II unit
Adding a HRP-3 for domestic hot water.
Loops run in back yard 6' deep. (horizontal system)
Adding 3 additional ducted air returns (only one in the house right now)

$21,000 turn-key

Hey HVAC guys,
Do the figures add up?

 

Don't know enough to comment on the numbers, but my parents put a Water Furnace in when we built the house in 1996, about 1700 square feet. Open source on one well, 425 feet deep, pump at 120 feet, return is at 400 feet. Also heats the hot water heater up to point and the electric takes care of the rest.

Been a very good system to them, had a new fan motor under warrentee. Other than cleaning the coil and the electro-static air cleaners, we've done almost no other maintenance to it.

I'm not sure exactly, but I think one of the more recent bills when I was still living there was around $275, don't think they've gone down much because I only moved across the street. Four people, an additional fridge for our farm produce, plus all the shop equipment we run.

 

This will be a 'closed loop' system.

 

Wow, didn't know they were that much to put in. I looked at a house with a similar GeoThermal system in it and even for our colder winters the energy savings were phenomenal.

 

That's what I'm hoping for..............

 

from here in 'burning money for heat' new york mountains;

that 21K sounds pretty decent BUT the only question is the size of the system for the sq footage. was the draw going down the source well or just the horizontal lay for the ground thermal conduction? I just quickly looked, no calculator involved but the price sounds good with the labor. only question was to the manufactured equipment rating for the unit used at that elevation
and sq footage push to a majority second level. the dynamics of the flow will be hindered if the pump is light on capacity, or running 60 percent of the time.
(cause a delay, then SWOOSH pressure field to the next ball valve/check valve/zone).

got a college nearby? or computer research the manufacturer and call their tech for the required unit, capacity and flow rate with the equipment the sub contractor is supplying would be my humble thought. then, ya know, ummm, verify that the equipment is actually the one installed says the old building code officer......do dit doooo

 

Just how big is your back yard? I would think a verticle system would be a lot better.

 

Horizontal Thermal system, not connected to the well.
The exisiting HVAC is a 3 ton unit.
The house sits on a 4 foot high crawl space with a dug 1/2 basement (HVAC in basement) so there would be little rise from the grid to the unit.


The house sits on >50 acres .......... real estate in not an issue

 

6 feet in the ground is it? I must be missing something. Most of the GT houses around here are 100's of feet in the ground. Did you mean 600 feet? Maybe it's not the same system? I know nothing about this stuff but it does interest me.

 

I have a 5 ton system with wells. The company that did mine told me they haven't done a horizontal system for about 10 years. Main reason is digging wells is cheaper. but then in my area frost gets down 6 feet so a horizontal system would have to be much deeper

 

6 feet in the ground, still hundreds of feet of pipe.
Layed horizontally

 

I have a 1800 sq. ft home with a basement. It is an older home and not insulated the best.

Two years ago I did a geo system. It cost $13,000 and is a 4 ton, with 4 150 ft verticle wells. I am amazed at the heat and cold air i get.
I has a 5 year payback.

I went from propane, and am on a rural electric system.

 

I will be watching this Casa Del Shovelhead project as I am looking at some land near the city here.
Strange phone call came in here on Weds. Our Energy company called because they were concerned with how little natural gas we are using.

All the renovations and efficiency improvements I have made took our gas consumption from 160 a month pre reno in the winter to just under 100 after just doing the super high efficient furnace. Highest bill last winter after doing windows, insulation and scratch coat for stucco was 36!!! We went from 54% to just under the threshold for air exchange...82% efficient. With the final coat of stucco and some of the sealing I did over the summer and the drop in natural gas rates, I should be getting a check from them now.

GT....really interested in it for the Chez Scotto, or is it Dell Scotto Grotto?
Gotta get an RV to test park on the land for finding the optimum spot for the house.

Ed, congrats on the new digs...I know its been a long term project. When is the BOMBvoy?

 

I see, it's a horizintal thinkg versus a vertical thing I guess. Interesting stuff for sure. Good luck with it.

 

I was quoted ballpark 25K for 3000 sq ft farm house from one source. Same type of system - horizontal. I also have a couple wells on my place and he talked about using them pull from one and dump back into the other. Would cost a fair amount less but it was still out of my budget at the time, so haven't done it.

The contractor that quoted it lives on a large pond. He uses the pond as his heat sink, pulls from it in one spot and dumps back in another. Said at time in the winter he has slush coming out of the pipe so much heat was removed from the water to heat his house and shop.

When the electric company came out and did an energy audit, I spoke with the guy about geothermal. He said due to the draft nature of the house, I probably wouldn't be happy with it if I had it installed.