I would also be interested in seeing some responses. A friend of mine here in MD is investigating geothermal.

Next month will be 10 years that we have our geothermal heat pump. This heating season will be our 11th. We have never experienced a single breakdown or required a single service call - ever.

As compared to our oil heating system that was replaced, the money weâÂÂve saved by not having an annual service contract has paid to heat our home for 3 years. Our neighbors that are still on oil or are using air source heat pumps or both are paying between $2,500 to $4,000 per year for heating. Our heating cost is about $500 per year.

Our geographical location is Montreal Canada. We would certainly install geothermal again. Anything else would be out of the question. Since weâÂÂve already seen a payback, the money saved on annual heating costs pays for a couple of return airline tickets to most places we like to go.

SR

About a year ago, we had a dual geothermal system installed in our 4000 sq ft 200 year old brick home in central KY. It has 6 vertical wells 150 ft deep, and both systems share the wells. We have two 3 ton waterfurnace "cubes" in the basement, and they are connected to two waterfurnace air handlers, one in the basement next to the cubes for the first floor, and one in the attic for the upstairs. The downstairs unit also has a Bryant high efficiency propane furnace attached as a backup heat source.

We are zoned, with two zones downstairs, and two zones upstairs, with four Honeywell prestige thermostats.

We have experienced the most comfortable winter ever in our 40+ years here, and likewise a comfortable summer, but it's been such a cool summer it hasn't really been a severe test for the a/c side.

Previously, we had a window a/c unit in the bedroom, and heated one side of the house in the winter with propane. We typically spent about $3500 on propane during the heating season. We spent an extra $2000 on electricity during the past heating season, but our propane bill dropped to $300. Also, keep in mind that we now heat the entire house, where previously we used to suffer through each winter with only half the house heated. I just got July's electricity bill, and the extra electricity was about $50.00 to cool the entire house. It was previously that much for the window unit. (this has been a mild summer here)

The bottom line is that we now heat and cool the entire house for about 60 - 70% of the cost to previously heat half the house, and cool two rooms.

So, I'm more than pleased with our system, and would do it again with no hesitation. Yes, it was expensive, and payback will probably not come in my lifetime, (I'm almost 70) but the old house deserved it, and the loop field will last 100 years for my children and grandchildren. Nice to have this kind of comfort in my dotage....

For the previous poster...

Would you care to share your net costs for these two systems after all applicable rebates and tax credits?

Thx

Is ontario still offering any rebates for putting geothermal in new builds?

Tiger, my net costs for the system are $32,450.00 Zoning added a significant amount of this.

Re: rajharv

Unfortunately, unless things have changed, you can almost all but forget geothermal in Ontario, much less any incentives. This is due to irrational environmental concerns. In April of 2012 a geothermal driller in Oakville Ontario encountered natural gas deposits while drilling that caused complications. This is not altogether unheard of. I have heard of another project in Ontario, years before this incident where natural gas was encountered and the possibility was explored to use that natural gas to either power a backup generator or to take the house âÂÂoff-lineâ altogether.

My suggestion would be to consider some other ground heat exchanger such as a horizontal âÂÂSlinkyâ system instead of vertical boreholes, space permitting. This may circumvent these environmental regulations. You can also petition your provincial MP.

Re: srjohnt

Your geothermal project seems to have been installed for a most reasonable price! From your description it appears that you might have a B&D QT-EA Series non-pressurized flow center. Are your headers buried or within the mechanical room? Do these Waterfurnace splits have desuperheaters, if so howâÂÂs that working out?

Glad to hear your installationâÂÂs working fine!

SR

Here is a link that might be useful: Geothermal Embargo

This post was edited by fsq4cw on Mon, Aug 5, 13 at 12:56

SR, the flow center is a Geolink FC2-GL and the manifolds are buried. One line in, one line out. The lines split for the two cubes after the flow center. Desuperheaters on both units, but only one is plumbed and active, the one for the upstairs, because it does more work in the cooling mode than the downstairs cube. (The inactive one is a spare, as the installation company mistakenly ordered desuperheaters on both units, and ate the cost of the extra one) I don't have a secondary tank, which I wish now I had done. Now I'm just plumbed to pump warm water into the bottom of a marathon water heater.

I felt it was a reasonable cost, especially with the 30% tax credit. The above figure is after the tax credit....

Hello all,
I have a Climate Master 3 ton geothermal installed in my home also. I did the install because I own a small hvac business and all we do is Geo, I've had mine since 2006 and it's been amazing. Low energy bills, nice even heat and cooling and not one mechanical issue. I have never quoted a customer over $30k for a system. Most HVAC companies that quote geothermal will mark it up significantly because its a specialty system. I Typically install vertical loop Geo in MD and PA for prices between 20k-30k.