DIY Geothermal install

[pinballlooking]

I am able to water a small part of this. We have been having a heat wave not great for growing grass.

[pinballlooking]

My Natural gas bill was $22.20 6/12/2017 we only use it for hot water. 10 CF Usage.

Now that Geothermal heats some of my hot water my NG bill is $16.12 5 CF
It cut my Natural Gas usage in ½. I have a tankless super-efficient for hot water so the savings is not real big. $4.86

https://ecorenovator.org/forum/showthread.php?t=3167

I could switch to heat pump tank but we are close to the meter fee. We keep the NG for emergency heat for our house and emergency heat for my fish tank water in the green house.
No change for now i my change my mind when my tankless tank quits.

[pinballlooking]

We finally got some rain. The new grass approves.

[pinballlooking]

Ok you all want numbers

This is a monthly energy usage.
Keep in mind we are not conserving especially in heating mode.



This is for the last two weeks.



It is working well the house is very comfortable and the humidity is being controlled really well. So far we have solar power banked 1,000 KWH to use this winter for heat.


I did look back on my electricity bills and this year I have banked 37 kw solar more than last year at this time.

That is about $4 difference. I also saved $4.86 in hot water. $8.86 saved I can now buy a burger.

I knew this would not be a big money savings. Mini splits are supper efficient and they paid for them self’s in savings.

They are really great in the summer.

We are not disappointed at all. Geo keeps the whole house more comfortable. Each room in the house is a much closer temp.

[pinballlooking]

My summer loop temp is up to EWT 88 degrees. It starts out 84-85 degrees then goes to up to 88 degrees. Yes, we have had a hot summer but I was not expecting the loop temps that high.
I truly have nothing to go on. What are others seeing their loops temps at?
I am in SC with the loop field in an open field collecting lots of heat.

I is still working fine just using a little more energy to do it. about 1.9 KW while running on stage one. At the start of summer it was using 1.475 Kw

[Fordguy64]

From what i have seen on the web 80-90 loop temps in summer are good. They say 20* rise in temp is good and in winter 20* drop is good. Thats from whatever your ground temp is. So id say you are doing good.

[pinballlooking]

My Geothermal report said
https://ecorenovator.org/forum/showp...0&postcount=15
Heating $431
Cooling $55
Total $486 Actual was $702 so it was off by $216

This chart is just Geo power usage. I have a CT clamp on just the Geo unit so I could monitor the energy usage of just that system.


Just over one year with the Geo install.

The trenches are looking good we have the grass back. Just over one year and our loop temps are just above 50 degrees in Jan 13.

We had mini splits before for AC. The mini splits seem to be less expensive to run in the summer. But heating is less expensive with the Geo system.

The house stays a more consistent temp with Geo. My wife liked the mini splits better as she could keep the living room and kitchen the temp she likes.

But in the winter is could get 79 degrees and be too hot for the rest of us. The system has run with no issues so far.
We keep the house 76 in the winter and 75 in the summer.

I was happy to not do such a big project in Dec this year.

[nokiasixteth]

I am designing a rig for shallow boreholes that fits in a knapsack on storage for campers and people who prep . I bet people that do the diy geothermal can bore a hole for vertical loopholes or a open loop geothermal. Only thing deepest i have tested it was around 60 ft. Rock it would be useless. I am trying to make it cheap as possible but durable so i can 3d print parts for it.

[pinballlooking]

The Geothermal is doing well. Google earth got a good shot before the grass filled in.