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hikerjohnson · 07-23-13, 05:58 PM

Hi AC,

I did a heat load analysis for my house in it's current state (pretty good for 1981, not so much for 2011) using HVAC-Calc (yup, I paid Don 50 bucks for it, and to be honest, it was worth it given how long it'd take me to do by hand)

On a design day I am looking at a load of 30,719 BTU/hour. That include my basement, which I don't ordinarily heat, dropping the heating load to closer to 22K Btu/hour. This house has electric resistance heat which I do my best to shun, a tiny coal stove in the basement, and a big honkin' woodstove on the first floor, which does a remarkably good job of heating the house most of the winter. I have made up the difference in the bedrooms with small oil-filled electric heaters. So far, so good (2/3 of a winter under my belt at this place)

So, 31KBtu/hour is approximately 2.5 Tons, and I would like to size my field for 3 to 3.5 tons, provided that the math works out for field sizing. This will probably give me an entire loop that I could cut out in the event of some catastrophe, like a puncture. This 31kBtu/hour value makes some sense, based on the amount of wood I was burning, but that really is a very rough guesstimate.

I plan on calling a couple of local geothermal outfits, but I want to have my own research more or less done, so I can figure out what they are telling me.

I intend to duplicate your soil conductivity test sometime in the fall, when I have all the bits and pieces to do it accumulated. Soil here is deep sand (near a river, but not near enough to do a pump and dump)

In the interest of full disclosure for all reading this (and so you know I'm not trying to make the thread veer off-topic), I am planning on DIY-ing my heat pump, and field, but it will be on an available-cash basis, and probably 3 years from completion at this point, if I had to hazard a guess. First step is sizing and calculating, second step scrounging, third and final step is building.

07-23-13, 05:58 PM	#1527
hikerjohnson Submarine Renovator Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Southern Maine Posts: 35 Thanks: 4 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts	Hi AC, I did a heat load analysis for my house in it's current state (pretty good for 1981, not so much for 2011) using HVAC-Calc (yup, I paid Don 50 bucks for it, and to be honest, it was worth it given how long it'd take me to do by hand) On a design day I am looking at a load of 30,719 BTU/hour. That include my basement, which I don't ordinarily heat, dropping the heating load to closer to 22K Btu/hour. This house has electric resistance heat which I do my best to shun, a tiny coal stove in the basement, and a big honkin' woodstove on the first floor, which does a remarkably good job of heating the house most of the winter. I have made up the difference in the bedrooms with small oil-filled electric heaters. So far, so good (2/3 of a winter under my belt at this place) So, 31KBtu/hour is approximately 2.5 Tons, and I would like to size my field for 3 to 3.5 tons, provided that the math works out for field sizing. This will probably give me an entire loop that I could cut out in the event of some catastrophe, like a puncture. This 31kBtu/hour value makes some sense, based on the amount of wood I was burning, but that really is a very rough guesstimate. I plan on calling a couple of local geothermal outfits, but I want to have my own research more or less done, so I can figure out what they are telling me. I intend to duplicate your soil conductivity test sometime in the fall, when I have all the bits and pieces to do it accumulated. Soil here is deep sand (near a river, but not near enough to do a pump and dump) In the interest of full disclosure for all reading this (and so you know I'm not trying to make the thread veer off-topic), I am planning on DIY-ing my heat pump, and field, but it will be on an available-cash basis, and probably 3 years from completion at this point, if I had to hazard a guess. First step is sizing and calculating, second step scrounging, third and final step is building.