Yeah, that's the crux of my problem. Sized by itself, the well used as both source and return will only support about a 1 ton installation in the winter as I cannot dump the water anywhere but back in the well. And it's currently cost prohibitive for me to get a second return well dug or have my current well dug deeper.
As for the house, it's about 30 years old and I've done all the tightening up on it I can over the last couple years as I've been chained to an oil furnace system. It's already a zoned system, so I've closed off any areas not regularly used. I've had the house checked for air leaks, sealed them all, doubled up on insulation in the attics, etc. etc.
For the gph system I can size it however I can and just zone it appropriately, which is why I'm trying to cost effectively get the max system I can put in place.
I guess to boil my immediate need down to the most important question, it would be. Is it feasible to create a hybrid standing column well system with a horizontal ground loop return to take advantage of both type of systems? Does using water only in the return horizontal loop have an impact on it's thermal conductivity vs. the normal anti-freeze mix in a closed loop system?
Should I just punt and go with what I can get out of a 1 ton system for one area and look into mini-splits for some of the other zones in the future to keep costs spread out?
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