We had built a new house in 1998 and had installed in-floor (concrete slab) heat fuel by a oil fired hot water tank. Very very comfortable. Our winters here in the Ontario countryside can be cold and windy. The house is well insulated and the oil fired system at the time seemed economical. But as the price of fuel oil sky rocketed and all the mess that burning oil made, the time for a change was here. I had investigated geo-thermal when I was building but it seemed costly, looking back I had paid many times more for oil than what a Geo-thermal unit may have cost.
Now with the Geo thermal unit and in-floor heating we are extremely happy. The really interesting thing is the addition of solar hot water. We had installed 6 flat panels and with full sun the floor is warmed for the day, the geo-thermal is off. Heating with the sun, Who would have thought!!! In fact since April we have not paid for any domesitic hot water. With the exception with the 2-3 cloudy days we had needed back-up. It is now Oct.
If you have sun avalible you can harvest a lot of heat for your home. And use Geo or AirSourceHeatPump or Natural Gas for the back-up.
Randen
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