BRRRRRR. Our outside thermometer fell to 42 degrees last night and for the first time this season our heat came on, bringing the indoor temperature to a brisk, but tolerable, 62 degrees. Last week, in preparation, I purchased a couple of down comforters—one for our eleven-year-old daughter and one for me and my husband. The total cost was $400, an expense I'm hoping to recoup by lowering our thermostat a couple of degrees this winter versus last winter.
Bigger Investment
But, while I was visiting the local down shop, our neighbors were making a much larger investment. Hoping to reduce their reliance on fossil fuel and thus shrink their carbon footprint and their monthly bills, they had a geothermal heating system installed to the tune of $30,000! This may sound outrageous, but it's an investment that could pay off in the long run.
First of all, their costs were so high because they had to have all the duct work installed in their house to accommodate the geothermal system. If a house has forced air heat (as opposed to steam radiators, hot water radiators or electric coils) and/or central air conditioning, then the ductwork is already in place and the geothermal installation will be considerably less—maybe as much as 50 percent less.
How It Works
Because the surface of the earth (no matter where you are) absorbs about half of the heat energy from the sun, the temperature deep under your lawn stays around 54-55 degrees Fahrenheit year round. That means you can take advantage of the constant temperature to suck relative heat out of the earth in the winter when it may be 20 or 30 degrees outside or relative cool out of the earth in the summer when it may be 80 or 90 degrees outside.
The
moderate underground temperature can be transferred to your home and
modified to meet your desired indoor temperature. In other words, you
can get both heat and air conditioning from a geothermal system.
When a geothermal heating system is installed, both outdoor and indoor equipment are involved. An excavation contractor will dig a hole and then a installer will lay plastic pipe in the earth. The length of the pipe with depend on the size of the structure to be heated.
The pipe or pipes are attached to indoor heat pump equipment and filled with liquid. The heat pump works like a reversible refrigerator by removing heat from deep within the earth and transferring it to another location—your house. The ground pipe is covered after installation, so you don't have to worry about looks.
Be Prepared for Noise
A lot depends upon the geography of your plot of land. In my neighbor's case, they had to dig one hole about 400 feet underground. It was very noisy and took about five or six working days from initial groundbreaking until the pipe was laid and connected to two heat pumps.
The number of heat pumps or heat pump capacity depends upon the
size of the structure to be heated. Including installation of two new
heat pumps, the entire job took about two weeks. In my neighbors' case,
the only thing stopping them from using their new heating system is the
final, relatively simple work that needs to be done by their
electrician.
It was messy, but while my husband and I write checks to the tune of a roughly $3,000 this season for heating oil, our neighbors will only have to worry about a relatively minor increase in their electric bill. The experts estimate that the cost of operating a geothermal heating system will be about 30 percent of a traditional system—although the cost of operating an “old-fashioned” heating system varies widely depending on the price of heating oil, natural gas or electricity.
They will have no heating oil bill. I'm looking forward to paying them a visit when the thermometer drops to 20 degrees F, and seeing how geothermal measures up to more traditional forms of home heating.
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