$5000 is probably a great price compared to other systems that are over $15,000 and more. Thats what a lot of folks need. But for some, its still a lot of money.
We had an energy audit (2010) on our 1710 sq. ft. home built in 1998. It was built under the "Good Cents" program (
http://www2.cstx.gov/pc/green/docs/gcs_goodcents.pdf). The audit showed a few areas where we needed to insulate or seal. Two that are found in most of the homes the auditor inspected are the top of the moldings on the front and garage doors. Our house was no different.
Other than sealing some ductwork in the crawl space and fabricating sheetrock boxes for the recessed lighting cans in the attic and adding new low E windows (which we can't afford), the house is pretty well insulated.
Why can't a ASHP be used as a starting point. I have found many 2, 2.5, and 3 ton units for around $200. Seems that one could replace the condensor with a closed ground loop and start moving heat. Maybe I am missing something?
My home is already set up for an A/C coil in the heating system (no coil, just the empty box). We have a 96% efficent gas furnace already. If I use natural gas for the back up and the GSHP for the main, we would be set.
Our home is built on a small lot. I could probably get only a 300ft. ditch for slinky pipe on the property. That would have to be taken into consideration and vertical might be more likely here. There is no access to the back yard for a well digging machine, so manual and homemade drilling will be most likely the way my three teenage boys will have to do it. hehe
