<p>We have to replace our heating system pronto, and I’m looking into this kind of system with heating oil above $4.50 per gallon. We would be using it primarily for heating, not for cooling. Anyone have any experiences to share? Costs? Issues?</p>
<p>Have you gotten any quotes? We did, and they ranged from $55,000 to $65,000 for a 4000 square foot home, or approximately $20,000 more than a propane heating system. The projected annual energy savings is $2500 (as compared to a propane system) and a payback of eight years is expected.</p>
<p>Do you know if your state offers tax credits for geothermal heating systems?</p>
<p>The further north you are the sooner you’ll get a payback, but I can’t see past those upfront costs. :(</p>
<p>We are going to be looking at this option as well. My impression was $15K or so more than replacing the existing furnaces. I think we at least need to get it quoted in the next month or so given the projected cost of heating oil … my H is not known for wanting to wear a sweater indoors.</p>
<p>You are right to get away from heating oil because it’s really diesel fuel, and thus a “transportation fuel” all of which which will be at a premium compared to other heating fuels for years to come. I think this price discrepancy will remain long after the current oil bubble bursts. We just switched to natural gas for about $6K and we expect to recoup our investment in under 3 years. Our projection is based on my old oil dealers’ expectation of next winters price being $5/gal. And I think that price is optimistic.</p>
<p>The US Dept of Energy quotes about $2,500 per ton for a geothermal system, but locals are quoting about $10,000 per ton. (A ton is the BTUs necessary to melt a ton of ice, I discovered.) With a full set of replacement windows–ours are REALLY leaky (old house)-- plus some additional insulation to seal leaks, we could hope to get away with a 3 ton system plus a fireplace insert with blowers for additional heat occasionally, or our existing oil system as backup if absolutely necessary. A 4 ton system might be necessary, or a 3 ton in the cellar and an additional ton in the attic to heat/cool the bedrooms upon occasion. With oil at almost $5 per gallon the payback would be less than 10 years, maybe even less. The idea of being free of oil is mightily attractive. Electricity in our state is increasing being generated by wind as well as oil and gas. </p>
<p>Luckily we like it cool, and have no problem wearing sweaters in the winter. We rarely turn on the radiators upstairs (we have steam radiators) as it is.</p>
<p>Mathmom–if we did nothing, we would be looking at paying $10K for oil next winter. And we keep the heat at about 62 during the day and 55 at night. Big, old, leaky house.</p>
<p>mapesey: how many tons did they quote you? Was that radiant or forced hot air? And what kind of external system? I’ve come to the conclusion that vertical closed loop is going to be the most realistic possibility for us. We have enough land, but the horizontal loops require significant depth and we have ledge. Water wells are too fraught with difficulties and uncertainties, IMHO.</p>
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I can understand that. We replaced all our windows and spent no more last year on heating oil than the year before. Maybe it was just a warm winter? Our house is almost certainly underinsulated, but it’s not too big and the windows are excellent. Dh can’t seem to bring himself to lock in heating oil price for next winter, but I think it’s probably a no-brainer.</p>
<p>Mathmom, what kid of windows did you get? Since the cost of oil about doubled last year, I’m gathering that they reduced your heat loss by about 50%?</p>
<p>I don’t know about locking in a price. My H is a stock analyst specializing in small cap energy, and follows the market very closely. He’s decided to go “free market” this coming year, if we buy an oil system and use any oil at all. The heating oil companies are setting the price very high, and requiring a very substantial fee in addition. I think they got burned last year, and don’t want to let it happen again.</p>
<p>My sister had one of those when they built their house 25 years ago.
However, they had to replace it about 5 years go with a gas furnace because the heat pump was too expensive to repair.
Also did not use it for cooling, only heat.</p>
<p>If you are considering the initial outlay of a heat pump you might also look at alternative sources
[warm</a> ways](<a href=“http://www.architectmagazine.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=1022&articleID=604832]warm”>http://www.architectmagazine.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=1022&articleID=604832)</p>
<p>We installed a geothermal system 7 years ago when we built our current home. I think it was about $10-12,000 for a system that heats a similar size home to the one you have. We use it for heating and cooling. We also have an electric backup system for the extremely cold temps when the geothermal can’t keep up with the demand. Our system is also set up to provide hot water??? We’ve had to have it repaired a couple of times and parts are expensive, but I do believe it’s saved us more than the difference in cost between a conventional system (in our case it would probably be propane or electric) and the geothermal. I know our heating/cooling bills are less than the neighbors with electric and propane and they generally have smaller houses. Since DH works from home, we rarely turn temps down while away. </p>
<p>Our system uses a horizontal loop rather than vertical as some do. I suspect it’s less expensive to use a horizontal loop. </p>
<p>I’d put one in again. </p>
<p>I was also STUNNED by the cost of HVAC systems in your area. Wow!!</p>
<p>rrah, how big is your house? The part our system would be heating is about 3000sq ft, albeit with high ceilings throughout. I live in Maine, so it is very unusual for people to have central AC. One of the things that is attractive about geothermal is the ability to run it as AC fairly cheaply during the odd days/weeks when it is very humid or very hot here.</p>
<p>One problem is that we are talking about retrofitting, which is always more expensive.</p>
<p>House size is always an odd thing to determine because in some areas it includes the finished basement, others not. I’d say about 3500-4000 sq feet on the two main floors (a couple of high ceilings) with another 1800 in the finished basement. Our last house was about the same size, etc but in a slightly colder climate. Our energy usage has always been lower here. </p>
<p>In addition to the retrofitting I wonder if the different geology has something to do with cost? As long as one doesn’t run into limestone here (which is very abundant) digging for the loops is easy. We lucked out when it came to not running into limestone. Somehow I’ve always thought the geology is different in Maine–rockier I think?</p>
<p>Yes–lots of rocks. 
Although we have the acreage for a horizontal loop, we probably don’t have enough depth before we hit ledge. So vertical loops filled with clay would appear to be the best bet.</p>
<p>No finished basement, btw. Total sq ft is about 3300, but 400 of that has its own heating/cooling system. As I said, lots of volume: at least 9 ft ceilings throughout.</p>