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[Scott7m]

I have been talking this over with my wife.  I was down to a gasifier, had one picked out and everything, then she started asking about geothermal heat and air. So we will see how far everything goes.

Wasting your money my friend.....   2 members of my family have geothermal units that cost over 16k, one was actually 20k.  They do have cheap cooling bills in the summer but in the winter months they still suffer.  My dad's house is the 16k one and he still has electric bills in the winter in the 350 range and  my aunt who has the bigger house still has electric bills over 400, and she ALSO has a wood stove in her basement that runs all winter. 

As far as the heat with them, its still the same "is that air i feel moving " type deal.   it definitely does not feel warm at all. 

On another note.  My aunt had a part on her geothermal tear up this spring, the part alone was 6000 dollars, and was not covered by the warranty, go figure. 

[martyinmi]

I don't always agree with everything Scott7m says, but I believe he's on the right track about his opinion on the geothermal. Costs of the system alone would make it cost prohibitive for me. I think if you add up all the costs associated with putting in a descent propane furnace, a good central air system, plus a good gasifier, you'd be right near the cost the geothermal by itself. If you lose your electricity with a geothermal, you need a good sized generator to make it function- whether its winter or summer. You can get by with a much smaller one with an OWB. You are also a slave to the power company year around with the geothermal. One of my semi-retired friends recently installed a new gasifier ($10000) and he figures it will pay for itself in about 3 years verses using his geothermal(he's been paying over $300/month to his utility co.) He has around $14000 in to his system(geothermal-2001), but he was working for plumbing/heating shop at the time, so he got a good deal on the unit, plus he did a lot of the install himself.
   Will this be for a new construction, or an update to your existing home?

[Scott7m]

Hahaha marty,

I appreciated your ideas on the mixing valve in case someone left a slow dripping fawcet or slow leak scenario, like I said, I'm not above learning haha far from it!!

The geothermal would never pay for itself, you still have high utility bills, not "as" high but still it's not like an owb

[mgw44]

Geothermal systems now have a tax credit of 30% I think on the materials and labor.  It still doesn't pay back.  In addition to the geothermal unit I agree that you either need a backup furnace (propane) or you need a really big standby generator in case the power goes out.   The main reason, at least in Michigan, is that you need to power the water pumps AND you also have to power supplemental electric heaters because geothermal won't fully heat houses without the supplemental electic heaters.

[willieG]

i have geothermal and when i bout it i never had the heating element installed. i heated with this for 4 years before building my OWB i never had a cold house and i only ever saw 2 days that the stove was actually calling for auxillery heat and that was only for an hour or 2  at the time. i had a quote from the propane guys for what it would cost to heat and cool my home before i decided to go with the geothermal, they quoted me at the time 2200 for propane (i live in an old farmhouse) and 700 to run the central air. i had the geothermal guys install a meter on my stove and to heat and cool my house for one full year totaled 1260.00 that compared to the total for propane of 2900.00 i am sure the cost has gone up but i am willing to bet that gas and propane have gone up as well. I heard here in ontario that a new geothermal unit installed is now (with the rebates and grants) very comparable to any other new furnace.  the only thing i found with the geothermal was that there never was hot air coming out of the register. the air coming out of the register was only about 7 or 8 degrees hotter than the room temp. the house was always as warm as the thermostat was set for but the young kids could not stand on the register to warm up when they came in from the cold. If i had had natural gas in my area i may not have gone with the georthermal but i live where electricity is the only service available to me. you are right about power, i think my unit is fused with a 60 amp breaker