Geothermal heat pumps

Looking to put in a geothermal heat pump this coming spring. My contractor has offered a 5 ton (60000 BTU) system by Climate Master for my 3200 sq ft house. It has de-superheat for hot water assistance and an EER of 24.4. He believes 3 wells, 250ft deep, will be sufficient for the in ground heat transfer. At 71 I'm getting tired of cutting, splitting, stacking, hauling and loading 8 full cords of wood every year. I figured the beeb probably has lots of experience, both good and bad with this stuff. Whatcha got?
Other info: My house already has fiber board duct work. 300 amps of service. Poor solar options as north facing slope with woods all around.....

 

What's the pay back time ? At 71 wonder if you'll break even before you're gone.

 

Pay someone to cut, split, stack, haul and still save a ton of money?

My in laws have geotherm in a house about the same size as yours and they still burn firewood

 

You might not enjoy the work, but there's a good chance its keeping you healthy

Think of it like a staircase

 

I supplement my heating with an oil furnace that's cost about $2400/yr of fuel (wood during the day and oil at night cause I'm lazy) The payback ought to be around 12 years but fuel and electricity prices are just about unpredictable anymore. Also, the heat pump has AC which I don't have currently. Personally I couldn't care less about AC but when my kids go to sell this place it probably would be required. I thought about a plain old heat pump and that would be much less capital though >> electrical $.

 

Out of curiosity, what wood stove are you using and where is it located in the house?

 

Is the house not insulated well? I burn about 10-12 full cords a year but am also heating my house, a 1000sqft garage and a 2200 sqft shop using a wood boiler

 

Are mini splits useless in this equation, or at least in the worst “zones”? I’m just now looking into a new system for the new place, and these have been a suggested option by a couple HVAC guys. Admittedly I know too little about them to make it a suggestion for you, or not.

 

I have a combination wood/oil furnace by Yukon....could be they are out of business. The unit is 32 years old and I installed it new. It's in the basement of a 2 story cape cod house with 2X6 walls with fiberglass insulation.

 

A cord of wood can be a highly variable thing. What type of wood? Is it aged (ie dry)? Is it a true cord? I was taught that a full cord is 4X4X8 stacked so the chipmunk can get thru it but the cat chasing it can't. I almost always find cords to be undersized. My shed is the size of a big 2 car garage and I fill it 6 foot high with close stacked wood. It takes me weeks (off and on) to accomplish this, even using a hydraulic splitter.

 

I would save the money on geothermal and just put an inverter heat pump in… you can go below freezing and still make heat…
Super efficient

use a 5 ton Daikin FIT

I you watch this video it explains how invertion technology works… AND a much faster pay back with lower investment..

https://daikincomfort.com/go/inverter/?utm_term=&utm_campaign={campaign}&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_source=google&utm_medium=ppc&utm_campaign=pmax&utm_term=&utm_campaign=Daikin+Performance+Max&utm_source=adwords&utm_medium=ppc&hsa_acc=3698120725&hsa_cam=20691781861&hsa_grp=&hsa_ad=&hsa_src=x&hsa_tgt=&hsa_kw=&hsa_mt=&hsa_net=adwords&hsa_ver=3&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIt4Wlhe_zggMVRsTICh2ZUwDHEAAYASACEgJOKvD_BwE

 

I was always under the impression a cord is 4x4x8. My wood is ash, maple and cherry although I am currently burning a 16" pine that fell down in the woods earlier this year. I keep the maple for cold winter and don't split it unless I can't pick it up. They are my heat batteries for overnights when it's cold and windy. The ash and cherry are for early and late winter when the heat demand isn't as strong.

 

You’re the reason all those jets are frozen to the tarmac in Germany.

 

It's green energy : )

 

Up here 4 x 4 x 8 is a bush cord...3 rows of 16".A cord is 2 rows of 16" and a face cord is one row of 16"
my 10 bushcord for this winter and Im 70 also

 

If you're tired of wood, you're tired of wood, but an updated unit may reduce the amount of wood you need for the season. Unfortunately I don't have any customers with newer wood furnaces so I can't point you in a direction there. I know Benjamin make a couple units but I'm not sure if they're big enough for what you need. Almost all the older ones I encounter are really inefficient due to their design and the multifuel units are usually absolutely brutal on the chimney flue unless they have a good quality stainless liner. All this is irrelevant though if you're done moving wood around.

 

Where’s the house located? How cold does it get? Getting a regular mini split heat pump with air instead of ground heat source may help. They supplement my propane heating and on mild days the propane furnace hardly turns on.

 

I buy these by the pallet https://homefirelogs.com/

Consistent heat & no work. I'll burn 3+ $600 (Canadian) pallets each winter.

 

Pack up all your shit, and locate the nearest odd numbered interstate highway. Keep the sun on your left side in the morning, and on the right side in the afternoon.

Pretty soon you will find places that do not require such effort to keep yourself warm for 6 months of the year!

 

How long does the power go out when the global warming inverts and your roads get an inch of ice on them?