DIYbanter - View Single Post - Geothermal heating -- worth considering?

Frank[_13_]

On 9/26/2012 7:55 AM, wrote:
On Sep 26, 7:37 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
John Albert wrote:
Hello all -

I'm looking at homes in Central Pennsylvania.

A new one I will be checking out has the following:
R-49 insulation, geo-thermal heating, solar panels.

How does geothermal heating work, vis-a-vis a "standard" hot
air or hot water heat system? Do they actually save any
money in heating costs?

These may look attractive when new, but what are the
long-term maintenance costs?

In theory, geothermal heating (or cooling) pre-heats (or cools) the air to
the temperature of the earth underground - usually about 56F. So, if the
ambient temperature is, say, freezing, the air gets raised to 56F before
regular heating kicks in.

That is not how it works. Geothermal uses a HEAT PUMP.
It's like a regular heat pump system, except that instead of
using outside air, it uses water from wells or a ground loop
providing around 50F constant temperature source year
round. That makes it low on operating costs, but given
the digging and installation involved, expensive on the initial
install. I've yet to see one that could be cost justified, absent
any unusual subsidies.

On the other hand, since it's already in a house he's considering
buying, it could be a good thing if he gets the
house at the right price and the system was correctly installed. I
saw one a while back on Holmes where they
had to install one all over again that was 3 years old because the
install was done all wrong, but hopefully that
is the exception.

That's the way I would feel. Also I may not consider it a plus over
other systems , that is would not pay extra for it. I have not
investigated but some options for example an in-ground pool does not add
to the value of a home. Just don't know about geothermal.