The Homemade Heat Pump Manifesto

S-F · 02-14-11, 09:17 PM

I just have to chime in here. This is pretty incredible AC Hacker. I wish you the best of luck with it and I look forward eagerly to see how this all pans out.

That being said, after I first read this thread (took me the better part of a morning) I started to poke around here and get some feedback from people who have geothermal systems. The responses seem to be about 2/3 dissatisfaction and 1/3 praise. The happy people are all really in to the technology and mostly had electric or oil heat before. The rest all had gas and are now quite upset that they are getting $300 electric bills a month. One person told me that on several occasions their foundation has frozen straight down to the footing. More than 2/3 of them complain about how persnickety the heat pumps are and how they can't change the temperature without the aux heat kicking in. One person said that during their first winter with it they turned their heat down during the day and up again in the evening and so on. Their electricity bill was over $600 a month which was more than their previous electric heating cost. Maybe the loops are all a little too small or something like that. All of this has made me decide to go with natural gas for my new construction and concentrate more on insulation. If I can get the house to the point where I can heat it with farts the heat generated by my highly active children I shouldn't need to worry about digging wells and fiddling with heat pumps.

Sorry to be a negative Nancy.

This thread is pretty exciting. I'm watching with rapt attention.

02-14-11, 09:17 PM	#10
S-F You Ain't Me Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Northampton MA Posts: 662 Thanks: 6 Thanked 71 Times in 58 Posts	I just have to chime in here. This is pretty incredible AC Hacker. I wish you the best of luck with it and I look forward eagerly to see how this all pans out. That being said, after I first read this thread (took me the better part of a morning) I started to poke around here and get some feedback from people who have geothermal systems. The responses seem to be about 2/3 dissatisfaction and 1/3 praise. The happy people are all really in to the technology and mostly had electric or oil heat before. The rest all had gas and are now quite upset that they are getting $300 electric bills a month. One person told me that on several occasions their foundation has frozen straight down to the footing. More than 2/3 of them complain about how persnickety the heat pumps are and how they can't change the temperature without the aux heat kicking in. One person said that during their first winter with it they turned their heat down during the day and up again in the evening and so on. Their electricity bill was over $600 a month which was more than their previous electric heating cost. Maybe the loops are all a little too small or something like that. All of this has made me decide to go with natural gas for my new construction and concentrate more on insulation. If I can get the house to the point where I can heat it with farts the heat generated by my highly active children I shouldn't need to worry about digging wells and fiddling with heat pumps. Sorry to be a negative Nancy. This thread is pretty exciting. I'm watching with rapt attention.