sorry, can't help much on the pricing- other than to say it's worth what someone will pay you for it!!
Seriously though, I'd love to know more details about the Geothermal system you installed. We just finished a new house and I wanted to go with Geothermal, but the estimates we got were 3-4 times what I ended up paying for a heatpump system. I've always heard that you pay a slight premium for Geothermal, so I was prepared to pay 20-40% more, but no way could I justify 300-400% more...
Anyway, post up some details if you would, I'm sure others would find it interesting.
Rig
Rig,
I installed a WaterFurnace Envision Series 5-ton Geothermal Heat Pump system with Domestic Hot Water desuperheater. This system required the installation of five 300ft. horizontal ground loops (600' of 3/4" HDPE pipe per loop) at a depth of six feet. These loops are connected to my flow center with 2 x 150' runs of 1-1/4" HDPE pipe. I am using a dual pump flow center. For hot water storage and heating I am using a 85 gallon Rheem Marathon as my main heater/tank and a 50 gallon preheat tank that my desuperheater is connected to.
For those not familiar with the way this system works, the simplest way to explain is that I am using the ground as a giant heat exchanger. In the winter the water in the loop is warmed by the earth and is circulated through a heat exchanger in the unit where the heat is extracted to preheat the freon before it is compressed, the now cold water is then sent back to the loops to be warmed again, this process is reversed in the summer for air conditioning. A bonus to geothermal heat pumps is virtually free hot water heating. The hot freon is circulated through a second heat exchanger that heats water that is constantly circulating through the pre-heat water tank which in turn heats this water. When hot water is used in the home it flows from the main water heater as in a normal house but is replaced with the water from the pre-heat tank which is connected in series. All of this sounds a little confusing but the theory and operation of the unit is fairly simple.
The WaterFurnace Envision Series uses a dual stage compressor that operates at 66% in Stage 1 and 100% in Stage 2, my unit has no backup heat strips. To give you an idea of how well this unit works last night it was 10 degrees outdoors and I had my thermostat set at 68 degrees. My unit operated in Stage 1 until approximately 4:00AM when Stage 2 was called for by the thermostat. The unit does not go into Stage 2 unless it has run for ten minutes without raising the temperature back to the set point. My unit has an EER rating of 30 as compared to super high effiency heat pumps that are normally around 17.
Now for the cost....The cost of the equipment, ground loop design and installation, all water connections and start-up was ~ $14000.00. I had all of the trenching work completed by a local backhoe contractor which was ~ $4500.00 (~ 1700ft. of 24" W x 72" deep trench in HARD ground). I supplied the two water heaters which were ~ $1000.00. This system qualifies for a $2000.00 Federal Tax Credit which I will take on my 2008 return.
This sounds like a lot of money but it was costing me a small fortune to use natural gas. I live in a very small town and our gas rates are through the roof. Last winter I had a couple of months where I had a $350.00 + gas bill with a $200.00 electric bill on top of that. I am more than confident that my electric bill will stay in the $250.00 - $300.00 range but my gas bill will now be $0.....Besides that this system is MUCH more comfortable than my gas furnace. My heat is now consistent with no "hot spots" and temperature swings when the unit is on/off. Also this unit is UNBELIEVABLY quiet. When it is on the sound when you are standing beside the unit compares to that of a refrigerator.
I didn't mean to get this long winded but I really have studied these systems inside and out. Please feel free to PM me for more information or if you have any questions. I have photos but will have to add those later....
James
PS...What is the EER rating of your heat pump???
