This type of heating system can cost in the neighbourhood of $20,000 to $25,000 but cost very little to heat your home.
I am just starting to consider looking into having one installed in our home. I thought i would ask the InterNACHI brothers (sisters) what everyones opinion is.
I’m seeing more installed on new homes. It depends on your ROI. Here’s a calculator to determine if it’s worth it.
http://www.northernheatpump.com/roi-calculator.cfm
I like them but the high installation costs and need for periodic maintenance of the large amount of equipment make me question their long term cost effectiveness.
I remember when the early 90 plus furnaces came out.
It took them years to make them reliable enough to recoup the higher initial investment in high efficiency.
Just a thought.
Had one for 8 years. Great for heating but even better for cooling. One caveat though, finding someone to service it can be a real problem after a couple of years. We have moved from that property, but the place we are in now had one when we moved in. It’s been replaced because the manufacture went out of business and no one had a clue on how to fix it. We are now on natural gas. We did have problems finding someone to maintain our old system too.
Make sure the system you select comes from a company with a long history and good finances.
Having said all this, I still am a fan of ground source heating.
That is a handy calculator. Say i would save about $2400 a year. I think that number is a little low but still a good base.
We moved into this house 2 years ago and don’t plan on moving any time soon. We went through 3 houses in 6 years prior to this one flipping. We have settled here to start a family.
This heating season alone i am almost $3000 in heating.
With an ROI of ten years, this is looking like a good option.
Keep the feedback coming guys. Thanks again.
I see them often on most new homes in the 700k and up range. Can cost well over 50K.
Mike is correct as was Jeff, the equipment is still being developed and finding someone to repair can be a hassle. I would install one in my home if I were building new, not on an existing home unless it would benefit without the cost of other modifications.
You could also consider cold climate mini split heat pumps.
You should have an experienced energy Rater model your home. He can tell you how long it will take and he might find better alternatives to reduce your cost. You also need to be aware that I would focus on making the building shell as efficient at possible first before you invest in a geothermal system. You can reduce your loads to the home and possibly install a smaller system which will be cheaper to install and to operate. I have an estate I manage here and we did spray foam before we installed the geothermal, we hardly ever have any issues at all with the system. Like others said make sure you get someone that knows what they are doing. If the system is not installed properly it won’t work right. Most of the time the problems are during the drilling phase. If they don’t re-install all the slurry from the drill holes the system won’t function correctly because the loops won’t be in good contact with the ground.
I just did a consulting job for a guy interested in installing geothermal because his bills are huge for the size home he has. After testing the home, I had to laugh and tell him we had to fix the building first before installing anything. He had 22 air changes at 50 Pascals!!