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Old 04-03-2014, 08:35 PM
 
Location: Sussex County, Delaware
10 posts, read 18,752 times
Reputation: 17

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My wife and I are from New England and a used to the cold, but tired of freezing. We have been thinking of building in Sussex County and wonder how practical a geothermal heat pump is for heating and cooling. Is a backup system necessary? Also, who would be an experienced, solid choice to install.
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Old 04-04-2014, 12:21 AM
 
Location: Columbia, SC
6,830 posts, read 16,494,097 times
Reputation: 1928
Quote:
Originally Posted by LaTache View Post
My wife and I are from New England and a used to the cold, but tired of freezing. We have been thinking of building in Sussex County and wonder how practical a geothermal heat pump is for heating and cooling. Is a backup system necessary? Also, who would be an experienced, solid choice to install.
I'm in South Carolina and have one. Don't fall for it! When it gets below 25 here, it's miserable in my house, even with a space heater. It also costs me a fortune to run in the winter.
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Old 04-04-2014, 03:17 AM
 
405 posts, read 671,692 times
Reputation: 511
I know of a couple houses in the area, one a 6000 square footer in Milford and a 3500 square footer in Kings Creek near the beach that have geothermal systems. I have not heard any negative reports about them.
Drawing heat from ground water is only part of the system. You need to have the system designed properly in order to get the full benefit.
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Old 04-04-2014, 07:00 AM
 
Location: Former LI'er Now Rehoboth Beach, DE
13,034 posts, read 17,937,586 times
Reputation: 13968
You didn't indicate the type of heat you currently use in New England. I do not have a geothermal heat pump here in Rehoboth Beach, but we do have a heat pump. I came from oil heat on Long Island. One thing I can't wrap my head around is "70 degrees is 70 degrees" right? Wrong. In NY my home was at 68 degrees all winter and we were toasty. I did have great insulation and new windows and my home was almost 60 years old. This home is 10 years old with better insulation than I had in NY, and in my experience, heat pumps don't heat as well as oil heat.

That said, the air conditioner works wonderfully and is much cheaper to run than my central in NY.
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Old 04-04-2014, 11:56 PM
 
Location: Long Neck,De
4,792 posts, read 8,153,140 times
Reputation: 4839
Quote:
Originally Posted by nuts2uiam View Post
You didn't indicate the type of heat you currently use in New England. I do not have a geothermal heat pump here in Rehoboth Beach, but we do have a heat pump. I came from oil heat on Long Island. One thing I can't wrap my head around is "70 degrees is 70 degrees" right? Wrong. In NY my home was at 68 degrees all winter and we were toasty. I did have great insulation and new windows and my home was almost 60 years old. This home is 10 years old with better insulation than I had in NY, and in my experience, heat pumps don't heat as well as oil heat.

That said, the air conditioner works wonderfully and is much cheaper to run than my central in NY.
How about that??? I some times wonder.
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Old 04-05-2014, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Seaford, DE
1,915 posts, read 3,890,788 times
Reputation: 1340
We had our 1350 square ft. rancher home built in 2002, well-insulated and with a gas furnace instead of a heat pump--no regrets. We are never, ever cold....and we keep our thermostat set on 62 all day and night. We started out at 65 and we were plenty warm, and now we can tolerate 62. The furnace heats the house up quickly and did not struggle at all when we had temps below freezing this winter. I know of neighbors who said their heat pump couldn't hack the extreme cold--some even froze up. We also never have an electric bill above $100; in fact, most are under $80. That being said, we did pay more in regard to propane this winter. In fact, our propane bill this year was the highest it's ever been in my twenty years of living on my own.
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Old 04-05-2014, 09:56 AM
 
Location: Sussex County, Delaware
10 posts, read 18,752 times
Reputation: 17
After paying very high oil bills here in New England and gas not available, I was hoping to avoid the propane route since it seems as expensive or more that oil. Natural gas would be great, but it does not yet seem to be available in the areas of Milton (zip code) where my wife and I have be looking to build.
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Old 04-06-2014, 01:20 PM
 
171 posts, read 108,577 times
Reputation: 187
Hi,

In my first house we had a heat pump admittedly not a geothermal heat pump but what a lousy system. We were cold in the winter and hot in the summer. I would never go that route again.
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Old 04-07-2014, 09:17 AM
 
Location: Sneads Ferry, NC
13,340 posts, read 26,824,109 times
Reputation: 6925
Quote:
Originally Posted by nuts2uiam View Post
I came from oil heat on Long Island. One thing I can't wrap my head around is "70 degrees is 70 degrees" right? Wrong. In NY my home was at 68 degrees all winter and we were toasty.
The difference is that an oil furnace blows out air at 105 degrees, while the heat pumps sends out air at maybe 90 degrees. At any rate, the heat pump feels cooler because the air is cooler than your body temp. We live in a region where heat pumps are all that is available, and I have gotten used to wearing sweaters.

Back to the OP's original question. I think that investigating a *geothermal* heat pump is worthwhile. Extracting the heat from groundwater may be more efficient than extracting it from the air. However, I think you would want a backup system for very cold days.
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Old 04-17-2014, 09:30 PM
 
Location: Sussex County, Delaware
10 posts, read 18,752 times
Reputation: 17
We have oil heat - keeps us warm (with sweaters), but the price is close to $4. Gas is unavailable, except propane, which is as costly as oil. When I read about geothermal failures to heat, I hear that it has to do with design. Not all HVAC installers are created equal. Am I wasting my time looking at this option?
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