tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5433839636644874439.post1696325478862949691..comments2024-03-04T13:37:11.022+00:00Comments on Canadian Financial DIY: Geothermal Home Heating Case Study - Going Green Puts Green into Your PocketCanadianInvestorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05645767559302303541noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5433839636644874439.post-1815535174328573282013-11-30T13:41:03.107+00:002013-11-30T13:41:03.107+00:00I live on an acreage near Prince Albert, Saskatche...I live on an acreage near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. It gets pretty cold here and dips to -30 C and more quite often. I put a 1600 sq ft bungalow on helical piles. The house is about 3 feet above the ground. I skirted the above ground crawlspace and insulated the skirting with 3 inches of spray foam. It cost me $15,000 for the Zuba Central with 17 kilowatt backup coils and the ductwork to be installed. The unit itself was $8,000. Running natural gas to the site would have been $33,000 plus a furnace and A/C unit, geotherm was $45,000. I am in the heating season now and temperatures have been -10 C to - 30 C and the backup coils have yet to come on. The Zuba Central is heating the house and crawlspace easily and I highly rate this system. Once I go thru a full winter which is approximately 6 months I can comment on the cost. This system works in cold weather. I have seen systems with better ratings but they need an alternate system at -16 C. I was Leary of this technology at first but am now very impressed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5433839636644874439.post-11608487472240170862011-11-05T09:54:03.638+00:002011-11-05T09:54:03.638+00:00You should be very, very happy you didn't go w...You should be very, very happy you didn't go with the Hallowell Acadia system. Mine cost me well over 20k and has been serviced more times than I can count. The last service seemed to fix the problem, however both Hallowell and the company that did the install are now bankrupt and my 10 year parts & labour warranty are now worthless.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5433839636644874439.post-16598038799048891862010-09-08T10:20:24.296+00:002010-09-08T10:20:24.296+00:00The Canadian GeoExchange Coalition website http://...The Canadian GeoExchange Coalition website http://www.geo-exchange.ca/en/cgc_publications_arc3.php has a useful Buyer's Guide to Residential Ground Source Heat Pumps, which includes a very detailed worksheet for figuring how much money you can save. The publication claims maintenance costs are much lower than with conventional systems and gives credible reasons why. It also claims life expectancy for a geothermal heat pump is 18-20 years vs 12-15 years for an outdoor air conditioner or outdoor heat pump. The Ground loop portion is meant last 50-75 years.<br /><br />Another way to judge maintenance is to look at warranty reserve on the financial statement of WaterFurnace. Warranty reserve is for what the company expects to pay out based on its historical experience. Currently the balance is about USD$12.5 million, which is quite low since this represents the total exposure for all past years and sales are now running at $100 million annually.CanadianInvestorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05645767559302303541noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5433839636644874439.post-7125170345610851262010-09-03T03:01:26.868+00:002010-09-03T03:01:26.868+00:00My parents bought a home with a geothermal furnace...My parents bought a home with a geothermal furnace 5 years ago. The old guy that put it in originally 20 years ago was well ahead of his time.<br /><br />Steady heat and cooling and the system is good as new. My mother actually had a repairman in to simply service the system; repairman simply said "looks good", didn't fix a thing and left...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5433839636644874439.post-57228959718527300562010-08-27T13:46:55.085+00:002010-08-27T13:46:55.085+00:00I wish you case study would show potential savings...I wish you case study would show potential savings over a 25 year period. At least this would factor in replacement of the pumps / maintenance to the system. <br /><br />You don't get you money back from your initial investment until the 11th year which doesn't factor in maintenance costs....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com