House Design

[FinlayZJ]

Interesting. I was thinking more of a system to augment heating and cooling, not a stand-alone. I wonder what the life expectancy of those parts is. Would suck to drop $20k on geothermal with the idea of a 5-7 year payoff, then find that you have to replace the loop in 4-5 years.

edit: I would also expect the installation to be somewhat more cost effective to do when building rather than as an upgrade.

Most will tell you it's 50+ years. The bigger problem is poorly engineered system. Your well field will likely increase in temperature as the field ages due the heat you're putting in to the ground. You need to design the well field for the ground temp in 50 years, not today. Do this, and it should last forever. Especially if you do borings with grout.

Indoor equipment is typical HVAC life expectancy. 15-20 years.

Also, it's much cheaper to do a horizontal coil loop. You'll need more loop, but it's much cheaper than wells. If you're cleaning/excavating a lot, install this when the earth moving equipment is on site.

 

[wct097]

Ahh... I was thinking it was more of an auxiliary thing where the geothermal system acted to as a water-air radiator before getting to the normal heating/cooling elements. That makes more sense, I suppose. That way, the compressor is operating against a static fluid temp from the ground rather than a variable air temp outside.

 

[FinlayZJ]

Geothermal has a 30% Federal Tax credit that is non-refundable but can be carried over for at least 1 year (not sure if you can carry over beyond that) through 2016. Most states and utility companies have some kind of incentive too.

Federal Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency ENERGY STAR.

Get to building.

 

[Jays89YJ]

Where the hell did you come up with a 5-7 year payoff on a geothermal system?

I wouldn't recommend any of the aforementioned systems unless you plan on living there for the long haul.

 

[FinlayZJ]

Where the hell did you come up with a 5-7 year payoff on a geothermal system?

I wouldn't recommend any of the aforementioned systems unless you plan on living there for the long haul.

That's what all the Government's "Green Consultants" always calculate for geothermal. Solar usually comes in just under 10 years.

Their math and calcs are

 

[Jays89YJ]

That's what all the Government's "Green Consultants" always calculate for geothermal. Solar usually comes in just under 10 years.

Their math and calcs are

LOL

 

[FinlayZJ]

LOL

I'll derail this thread with this gem, then I'm done:

A Green Consultant I worked with for a Border Patrol in Puerto Rico tried to force the design team to engineer a rainwater harvesting system for irrigation. Their landscaping was green as could be and they've never watered it. No irrigation system existed. They didn't even have a sprinkler just in case. It rains there almost every day. Most homes don't have any type of city water because they just collect it themselves. She wanted a $150,000 add to the project to install this elaborate system that was of no use. Her boss mandated that all new construction should have at least 1 major "green" element and she had used these in the southwest US with great success.

We did PV and small wind turbines instead. Even with their local power rate of 28 cents/kW-hr we calculated the payback at over 20 years. Taxpayer money at work.

 

[abqtj]

I'll derail this thread with this gem, then I'm done:

A Green Consultant I worked with for a Border Patrol in Puerto Rico tried to force the design team to engineer a rainwater harvesting system for irrigation. Their landscaping was green as could be and they've never watered it. No irrigation system existed. They didn't even have a sprinkler just in case. It rains there almost every day. Most homes don't have any type of city water because they just collect it themselves. She wanted a $150,000 add to the project to install this elaborate system that was of no use. Her boss mandated that all new construction should have at least 1 major "green" element and she had used these in the southwest US with great success.

We did PV and small wind turbines instead. Even with their local power rate of 28 cents/kW-hr we calculated the payback at over 20 years. Taxpayer money at work.

That green turd is a moron

 

[wct097]

I like more common sense approaches to being "green". Old school stuff like the position of the house and windows relative to the sun in the summer/winter. Trees for shade in the summer and blocking wind in the winter.

 

[Jays89YJ]

I still recommend hydronics. After performing several cost analyses on dozens of combinations of systems, it can be done economically.

 

[Chite5e]

Whole house audio

 

[Chite5e]

Lightning rods

 

[SAD]

An intercom system!

 

[Chite5e]

Entirely fenced perimeter with an entry gate.

 

[SAD]

A custom driveway.

 

[SAD]

A moat.

 

[Chite5e]

Covered rv parking with hookups.

 

[SAD]

2000 sq ft insulated shop with red-iron, free span construction.

 

[SAD]

A tunnel

 

[abqtj]

2000 sq ft insulated shop with red-iron, free span construction.

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