A/C system gloat!

[Lee Schierer]

LOML and I decided that we wanted to have airconditioning in our house and that we wanted it to be a central air system. For over 25 years we heated our house with a geothermal heat pump. We inquired into the cost of conventional A/C and geothermal A/C and we decided to replace our 25 year old heating system with a new combination heating air conditioning system that was entirely geothermal. We had the system installed and started it about the first of July. When the July bill arrived in August, despite there being 25 more cooling degree days than last year we had used the same amount of electricity with the air conditioner running 24/7 for the eintire month. Well, we just got the second months bill where the A/C was on agian for the entire month and (drum roll) once again our electrical use was exactly the same as last year for the same period. So the conclusion is that a dehumidifier running in the basement plus several ceiling and room fans use the same power as running a single whole house fan 24/7 and running the A/C to keep the temp at 74 during the day and 71 at night. Hopefully this trend continues when we fget into the heating season i a couple of months.

[Matt Meiser]

That's really cool (no pun intended.) I wanted to do geothermal here, but it required more planning than possible when the furnace goes out on Thursday night before a weekend with 0 degrees forecast. :(

[Ken Garlock]

Hi Lee. It sounds like you have a winner for a new heating/cooling system.:cool:

As you have no doubt heard me say, we installed a Water Furnace system for our home. It is a 5 ton unit with 4 wells that are each 300 feet deep. There is no auxiliary resistor heating element. It work without a complaint down into the low teens which is cold for our neck of the woods.

I am curious as to the configuration of your system. Did you need new wells, piping, etc? And, of course, what brand is it?:)

Enjoy!

[Frank Guerin]

I have looked in to that a few times but the pay back would have resulted in me being born again so I could start work all over. Of course the S Texas climate and smal land plotl may be a large factor. I have a friend in Colarodo that with an old tracktor and a great quantity free or cheap PVC buried his lines ??? feet of line underground that keeps his 2000 sq foot home at a constant temp.

[Jim Becker]

The performance sounds excellent!

[Dennis Peacock]

Most excellent performance on the A/C unit. 71º F at night??!!! That would cost you a fortune down here to do that....we have to run 80º F during the day and 76º F at night to keep our bill manageable.

Congrats.!!!!!

[Phil Thien]

Lee I am once again impressed by those statistics!

[Greg Cuetara]

Ok so Lee need some more details here. How big is your house? Approximately how much $ and what did you already have installed and what else did you have to do?

I have a well which goes down 400 ft but not sure if that is all I need or if I need something else which would drive up the cost. Looking at a Pellet Stove right now but would like to consider a geothermal unit if the $ was right.

Greg