Anybody have Geothermal heating/cooling?

[78bird]

We are building a new house this year and considering installing a Geothermal heating and cooling system.  The cost to upgrade from the electric heat pump to Geothermal is estimated at $20,000.  It looks like we just missed out on the 30% tax credit and who knows if they will extend it or not.  Without the credit I'm not sure the payback makes it worthwhile.  We live in Eastern Pennsylvania.  Anybody have experience with Geothermal?  Good?  Bad?  We plan on living in the house for 40-50 years hopefully.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

Many of my family members have geothermal and live it. The quote seems off -I just got quoted an additional cost of $12-15k for geothermal in a new build near Allentown. I can give you that builder's email if you want.

[78bird]

We are under contract with a builder now.  Do they sub the work out to a geothermal contractor?  If so Ill take their information.  We are building outside Nazareth.

[CowboyAndIndian]

I would have loved to have it, but was too expensive when I priced it out(5 or 6 years ago)

If I were to build a house today, I would put in Geo Thermal heat/cooling even if it were more expensive.

Lots of pros
- Longer life, approx 25-30 years instead of 12-15 years for traditional, since all elements are indoors.
- Nothing burning in home to create heat (safety, Carbon Monoxide/Carbon Dioxide issues etc)
- Can be completely off the grid if you have solar panels/storage
- Much better temperature control in house

Cons
-Price

Some good info about Geothermal in this thread https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/do-it-yourself-forum!/geothermal-hvac/

A lot of geothermal users on that thread recommend it.

[CowboyAndIndian]

You might want to PM "rulesofacquisition" who installs them.

[78bird]

Thanks for the info.  I'll PM him.  I met with the builder today and he said his geothermal guy believes the 30% federal rebate is coming back.  That would certainly help but who knows and I'm running out of time to decide.

[bigchrisb]

Find out if your area is on an aquifer that flows or sits still.  I've had exposure to a commercial building with geothermal heating/cooling.  However, there is no circulation of the groundwater in that area, which means that after 15 years operation, the ground heat sink has warmed (cooling dominated climate), with a resultant drop in efficiency and capacity.   That building has now installed additional condensers (cooling towers) to dissipate the surplus heat.

Its something we never though of when the system went in, and only became apparent long after the defect liability period (warranty) expired.

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

Hi neighbor, I live in Emmaus. The guy I got the quote from is a builder and we're not moving forward since other stuff came in too high, so if you're under contract I doubt he can help.