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Becky Parker
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| Posted: July 06 2010 at 7:26am | IP Logged
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My dh and I are looking into options regarding air conditioning for our home. He wants to get info regarding geo-thermal air conditioning. I've heard of geo-thermal heat, but I didn't know you could also cool a house that way. Does anyone have experience or knowledge about this? I am particularly interested in controlling the humidity of our home. Really, the heat doesn't bother me so much, but the humidity is really hard on my ds with asthma.
Thanks!
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Becky
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: July 07 2010 at 11:03am | IP Logged
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Becky, yes you can.
My BIL just had a system installed two weeks ago. He said you have to have it for both heat and cooling, otherwise you destroy the underground system.
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 Paula
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: July 07 2010 at 11:19am | IP Logged
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Thanks Paula. Did he happen to say how it works regarding humidity?
Geo-thermal heating is something my dh is really interested in. Now that we're looking at air-conditioning, he feels like this would be the time. Our main issue for the air conditioning though is the humidity problems. It really irritates my ds's asthma.
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Becky
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: July 07 2010 at 12:02pm | IP Logged
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He didn't say, but I'll ask him tomorrow at the softball game.
One thing he told me about the system is that it is always on. For example, we have a programmable thermostat, and we set it at different temperatures for sleeping, during the day, etc. He said when the geo-thermal was installed their programmable thermostat was removed. The temperature is always (whatever they chose) and no need to change. They can have windows open, etc. but the system is never shut off. I'm thinking that on a really humid day, and we have a lot of those, the system would work well.
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Paula
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: July 07 2010 at 1:31pm | IP Logged
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Thanks Paula! That's interesting information.
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Becky
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Angel
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| Posted: July 07 2010 at 3:28pm | IP Logged
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They have geothermal at my husband's office. It seems to cool pretty well -- I mean, for the brief periods you need it to work here in upstate NY -- but everyone has space heaters under their desks for winter. I don't know if it would be different in a house as opposed to an office building, though.
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Molly Smith
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| Posted: July 08 2010 at 7:49am | IP Logged
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We just installed a geo-thermal and it's been on for about 3 weeks or so. Our utility bills were outrageous. Our electric bill that we just got yesterday covered a statement period of about 2/3 regular a/c and 1/3 geothermal. The bill was 20% less than the same period last year, and it's been hot, hot, hot here in Virginia. I'll need a few statements to make a better evaluation of the savings, but I hope this trend continues!
The house is cold, too! I've never actually had a cold house in summer. There is no humidity in the house--and it's brutal outside. We couldn't be happier with the effectiveness. I don't know how he did it, but my dh set up a few zones in our house so my attic boys can stay cool without freezing the girls out of their rooms.
The deal is that the geo-thermal system uses the natural temp of the earth at a certain depth (55 degrees or so at maybe 5-6 feet deep). Long trenches are dug and pipes looped through the trenches. Your standard a/c pulls the regular above-ground air (over 100 degrees here these days) and tries to cool it to, say, 75 or wherever you set your thermostat. The geothermal runs air through 55 degree earth and pumps enough of it into your house to keep it at your thermostat setting.
Same idea with the heat--traditional heat takes outside air and heat it to your thermostat setting, but geo-thermal only has to heat the air from 55 degrees to your thermostat setting.
So, it's a fascinating alternative to traditional heat/ac. However, it's expensive and will make a huge mess of your yard. In our case, though, our electric and propane bills were so outrageous that we would not be able to stay here long term at that rate. We plan to live here long enough for it to pay for itself and more.
I'd love to let you know how it goes in future months. We're pretty encouraged so far by its effectiveness and the savings we've already realized.
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Molly Smith in VA
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Becky Parker
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| Posted: July 08 2010 at 9:06am | IP Logged
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Thanks Molly! I think we're leaning farther and farther in that direction. I haven't heard anything bad about it except for the cost (which my dh believes will eventually pay for itself) and of course the messed up yard, as you mentioned. (We need an excuse to update our landscaping anyway.)
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Becky
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Paula in MN
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| Posted: July 08 2010 at 9:15am | IP Logged
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Becky, my BIL said based on their previous electric usage and propane purchases, he determined the system would pay for itself in five years.
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Paula
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Theresa H
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| Posted: July 08 2010 at 10:35am | IP Logged
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Becky -- We have a geo-thermal system. I don't have a fact-based answer about the humidity, only experience and agree with Molly. At times we can have high humidity in Oklahoma and it does not seem to be at high levels in the house even though outside may be high levels.
Molly gave a great explanation of a geo-thermal system!
ETA: Our system was not trenches but wells dug 100 ft deep. The mess was minimal and in a small area. The rock in our area is close to the surface and would not allow for adequate heat transfer.
My recommendation concerns the backup heat. Our unit has electric strips as back up for heating. We do not use this because the electric bill doubled when it was on. (We have a fireplace that is burning much of the winter to assist the geo-thermal.) We thought the system was a duel system that would use both the geo-thermal and the strips at the same time - NOT the case. It either uses strips or geo-thermal. Big disappointment for us!
Recommendation: Make sure the unit can use both geo-thermal and backup heat at the same time.
Molly - What is your backup for heat?
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Topic: Geo-thermal
