Loved it. I had a closed loop with desuperheater. Closed loop are less efficient but cost less to operate since you’re cycling the coolant instead of lifting/pumping water.
I kept the house at 68° in the winter (felt warm in the house, but it’s true the air will blow out of the registers warmer than a regular heat pump but not hot) and never used the auxiliary coil down to negative degrees in the winter and 68° in the summer with temps well over 100° outside.
Closed loop will also get progressively less efficient as the season progresses and you warm or cool the wells.
All that being said, my electric in the summer was usually $100, $110, $125, and heat was $125, $150, $165 for the peak months. Baseline was about $80. Cooling is where it really dominates.
It is very dry heat, so get a humidifier or your shock yourself with static electricity all the time.
We had geothermal before we down-sized. It is virtually impossible to have a “zero” electric bill from geothermal alone because the system requires electricity to run the pumps and blowers. Our typical winter electric bill for a 4,000 sf Home was $200; still a bargain but not free. Ask for a 12 month utility bill history; your realtor should be able to get.
One other comment. Geothermal heat never “feels warm”. You won’t stand on the heating vent to feel the heat. It’s a very gradual warmup unless you use the emergency electric heat, which defeats the purpose. My wife found it impossible to feel warm enough.
I would buy a home with geo again, but I wouldn’t spend the upfront money to install a system.
in 1982. Our home is also passive solar, almost entirely windows on the south side. Our geothermal unit finally needed replacing in March, 2018, so 36 years with the original unit. Only downside is that I lost the 30% tax credit that expired 3 months prior. Our new unit was ~$13K. Normal summer electric bill for all electric 3200 sq. ft. house is $90. The highest monthly bill was just over $200 in cold, cloudy months. It is zoned for upstairs and walk out basement which has the bedrooms. We have never turned on the AC for the lower level.
Most of the operating costs is the electrical cost to run the pumps and fans versus utility costs to generate the heating/cooling process. The first cost to install is significantly higher than alternative systems which is why it is not more prevalent. It's a great system. It's a very reliable system and can be used for other systems as well if sized correctly. Our neighbors have a geothermal system and they use it to run a snow melt system under all of their walks and driveways. Can also be used to heat pools and/or even cool them in warmer climates. I'm always jealous looking at their steaming driveway as I'm trying to snow blow my driveway onto theirs. It would be my first choice if I were to build a new home.
it's quite expensive to put in but the homeowners are telling the truth that there's very little operational costs throughout the year which gives you a payback. The only thing to be wary of on your end is that any maintenance or service can be more expensive than you're used to. A service call from a HVAC repairman could be 75-150 and to service your geothermal you're probably looking at 300+. That's what I've heard from a friend that has a geothermal system in Michigan.
Some of them have emergency electric heat as a backup, and there isn't much that is more expensive than that if you need it.
These people sank an ungodly amount of money into a house that just isn't worth as much as they think. Thus their 10 months in a solid sales market even in a crappy part of the country for home sales.
$80k drops in some spots. It's wild.
Don't forget to factor that in. And they are nearly guaranteed to increase faster than inflation, not unlike college tuition.
Not looking forward to listing our place this spring...
...the systems are very expensive up front but provide a source of constant 60-65 degree water for heating/cooling, meaning you're not doing much to augment it.
Do you know what time of system it is (vertical loop horizontal loop, pond/lake loop?). I'd think that maintenance could vary based on system type but I don't know that much about them.
FWIW, air source heat pumps are becoming so efficient that I think geo-thermal at the residential level is likely to fade very quickly.
Over geo.