We currently have a propane forced air furnace about (12 years old) and central air (condensing unit about 22 years old). We have been having more issues with them recently and propane isn't getting any cheaper. We estimate we spend about $2000-$2500 a year on propane only for heat. Plus the system seems undersized for the house, like it struggles to keep up.
We are kicking around the idea of going to geothermal. What can you tell me about it? I think my biggest questions would be what kind of service life can a person expect, how much do they effect the electric bill, is it worth the upfront costs and eventually pay for itself?
Thanks
This is 2nd hand information, so it may be somewhat incomplete data. My BIL did some work for a guy that had installed a geothermal system for his house. Instead of a "field" of pipes to cool/heat the water, he used a series of wells (4, I think) to supply the correct water temperature consistently. Well 1 would pump into 2, then 2 into 3, and so on... I believe he said his power bill was around $50 a month for the entire year with a nice cool house in summer and a toasty warm house in winter. I think the wells were the most expensive part but he expected it to pay off in maybe 5 years, heat pump should last 10-15 allegedly.
Geothermal works very well but may not be the best economic choice, depending on where you live and how your house is built.
Where are you located?
In reply to paddygarcia :
I live in central Ohio, so fairly cold winters and hot humid summers. I am in a rural setting with three acres.
Gotcha. How well insulated and hopefully un-leaky is the house?
Our house in Va is a recent build, very tight with a crapton of insulation. We modeled a geothermal solution but the fixed costs up front would basically never be recouped over high efficiency air-to-air heat pumps. The indoor equipment is somewhat more expensive than high end air-air, but the killer was the wells: 4x500 feet, around here we pay a little more than $10/foot for wells, so $20k+.
We still spent all the money, but on high efficiency air-air for heating and cooling, and put the well money into solar. The solar pays the electric bill for the hvac and more - no bill at all in the summer while the meter turns backwards.
If your house is pretty well built you could keep the 20k in your pocket. The geothermal would have to save at least $83/month every month for 20 years versus high-efficiency air-air before the wells are paid for.
Learned from our experience that the amount of benefit from going geothermal can also vary with the type of ground/soil you have to work with.
Deep, well draining sand may not be so great for geothermal.
Payback may also vary depending on whether your utility bills out resistance heat when that kicks in at a different rate-- ours does. Even then, if you like doing significant set backs a night, it can be a challenge to do the recovery without the resistance heat kicking in.
