Geothermal now in operation(update)

[Qweaver]

OK, now I'm starting to beat a dead horse but here are my bills year to date.  Note that the Jan/Feb bills are high.  This was right after I broke my hip and I was running the Geo full time. This was before I convinced the HVAC installer that he had installed the wrong thermostat and the heat strips were running way too much.  Now they hardly ever kick in.  When you consider all of the machinery, motorhome, coolers and freezers that are being run...this is a very low cost for electricity I think.  

We are going back to Texas for Jan/Feb and the geo will be running all of that time.  I'm pretty confident that the geo will be cheaper than running the pellet stove at about $4 per day for pellets.  We just like the atmosphere of the stove.
Here is the electric info.  It's a little different that what my memorey was telling me but the average of $121 per month is about what I expected.  It should be much less from now on.  I'm a little surprised at the 9 cents per KWH cost.  Seems really low to me.

 

[Al_Smith]

I'm a little late for the party but I'll give you my experiances with a geo-thermal .

I've had two,first a used Hydra -Delta that worked just fine until the heat exchanger went out which caused the compresser to suck water which obviously it didn't digest very well .It was cheap but due to the fact it had a pure copper exchanger it didn't hold up to sulpher water very long .Then again 8 years wasn't too bad considering I only paid 800 for it .

The replacement is a 5 ton Water furnace which by the way was a splinter group that originally worked for Hydra -Delta,trivia more or less .In northern Ohio or any cold climate you have to size the unit for the greatest usage and due to the fact it's colder here more than hot then heating has to be taken into account .

To not cause the "refridgerator " effect during extreme cooling condition a lower speed fan setting is used .This of course knocks down the effciency but gives longer run time as to dehumidify the air .Otherwise you nearly freeze to death ,just like a deep freeze .

A geo is certainly the most efficient way to heat or cool but it isn't free by any means .Best to use a goodly amount of insulation in the home to help defray the cost of operation .

Now then during temps of below about 25 degrees I heat with a woodstove so in effect during that period seldom does the unit even run .It will however if needed produce way more heat even at 10 below zero as the unit is 5 ton and the house has around 30,000 btu per hour heat loss give or take .

At any rate that replacement cost me a tad under 3500 bucks but because of certain "connections " I got it at cost .I kinda figure verses the cost of resistance electric heat and even discounting the woodstove I should more than cover the cost in 4 maybe 5 years at the most .BTW the average life of most geo units is around 20 years for what that's worth .

[Qweaver]

Are you using wells Al ?  I guess not with the reference to sulpher.

[Al_Smith]

Yes as a matter of fact ,one well ,no reentry type thing .

Long story,I have two wells ,one nearly 200 feet deep which has in a tinge of sulpher thanks to an oil well  but that's a story in itself .The other which is 117 feet has 4.5 percent bacterial iron which would be worse for a geo unit than the sulpher .

On this new unit it's a coated cuppra -nickle exchanger so it should hold up in the long haul .

I already had the well and could not see plowing in like 2800 feet of loop pipe .

[Qweaver]

In my case the wells have a pipe loop in them so the AC unit never has anything but anti-freeze solution cycled through it.  The wells are also filled with a gel to improve heat exchange.   I don't know what it is but I watched the driller mix it up and pump it down the well until it flowed out the top.   I thought the drilling cost was high until I watched the entire process.  The driller really knew his trade and earned the $4000 cost for the two wells and plumbing.  Any thing can fail but this entire installation looks good to me.
Quinton

[iffy]

That was probably a bentonite slurry he pumped in. That is what they put in mine. They did 4 wells for me 200' through solid rock. They showed up sometime after 8:00 in the morning and if I would have waited until noon to come home I would have missed them.

[submarinesailor]

That was probably a bentonite slurry he pumped in.

When we did 11 wells for the Geo-thermal installation at the Crash and Rescue building at the USMC Quantico Flight Line, we had to use bentonite to hold the wells open until we could get the piping in place.  Every time the driller pulled the bit, the hold would collapes.  BTW - The flight line was built on fill from the Potomac river.   

Bruce

[Al_Smith]

 You just have to use whatever water source is most conveniant I suppose . Could be a ground loop ,deep well loop ,water well or Lake Erie if you were close enough . I know people that have closed loops sunken in ponds that do pretty well .

Where I work has most likely one of the larger system there is .At the present it's cooling machine process water  and about 400 thousand square feet of manufacturing space , in an auto engine plant .With some alterations it will be able to cover the entire 2 million plus square footage of that building . Deep water spring fed abandoned  lime stone quarry , with bottom temp of below 50 degrees .Now that's cold for ground water . 36" supply and return lines with around 1500 HP pumps  .Plain water to air exchangers .Simple system but a big one at that .

No heating capabilties which puzzles me as the return temp of the water is 96 degrees .I'll never understand big business I guess .