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Assuming your are asking, in part about evacuated tube solar thermal (because geothermal and solar thermal have nothing to do with each other) -
we chose flat plate solar thermal instead of evacuated tubes, because, in all but the coldest climates, they are more efficient and the BTU per buck is less. Right now we use them for domestic hot water, but we'll be adding to capacity to assist the radiant floor heating as well.
Assuming your are asking, in part about evacuated tube solar thermal (because geothermal and solar thermal have nothing to do with each other) -
we chose flat plate solar thermal instead of evacuated tubes, because, in all but the coldest climates, they are more efficient and the BTU per buck is less. Right now we use them for domestic hot water, but we'll be adding to capacity to assist the radiant floor heating as well.
i was asking if anyone could shed some light on their experiences with solar water/home heating and/or their experiences with groundsource/geothermal heat pumps for heating/cooling of their water or home.
good for you. what were the costs and have they brought down your electric bills?
How in the heck are you going to install geothermal in your SUV?
the "pro suv brigade" aka people who don't care what their waste is doing to the environment, their economy, their own back pockets and their childrens already debt ridden future. aka those who will fight tooth and nail to justify to everyone including themselves why they NEED an inefficient auto to perform tasks that can be done by smaller type vehicles. aka those who will fight tooth and nail to discredit anything that saves energy be that smaller cars, driving slower, carpooling, insulation, ventilation vs airconditioning, goethermal, solar tubing etc.
disclaimers:
1 i don't believe the theory of man made global warming. so please save that topic for another thread. what i do believe is that if you go for a jog in the morning when everyone is going to work it is difficult to breathe. you can't see the stars at night and tptb are in the process of allocating more country for farming to quench our thirst for biofuels
2 whether you buy gas from exxon or from an opec supplier is irrelevant. the bottom line is that our excessive consumption is greater than what we produce at home so unless we address our demand we cannot address money leaving our country esp into the wrong hands. while there is merit to further drilling at home, we must be careful before we deplete our own reserves as that will just make opec more powerful.
3 if you have an suv for a legitimate reason then obviously you are not included in my definition of the "pro suv brigade". you be your own judge!
4 if your suv has incredible mpg then that too excludes you from my definiton of the "pro suv brigade". you be your own judge
now i asked a simple question ie. have you installed any form of solar water heating or geothermal water heating/airconditioning system in your house?
if the answer is yes, please tell me about your experience ie what did it cost? do you save on energy bills? if so how much? where are you situated? what are the maintenance issues? overall experience?
if you have not had any of these things installed and you want to discuss my views on suv's, price of gas etc then you can check out some of the threads/posts on those topics and please leave this thread for the relevant posters.
We have geothermal heating system, with a furnace, not a heat pump. It was a bit more expensive to install, but we received a discount on our electricity which has made it an economical choice.
i was asking if anyone could shed some light on their experiences with solar water/home heating and/or their experiences with groundsource/geothermal heat pumps for heating/cooling of their water or home.
good for you. what were the costs and have they brought down your electric bills?
We use solar for our total electric needs in our home - everything. We have no outside electric lines coming to our property.
We have geothermal heating system, with a furnace, not a heat pump. It was a bit more expensive to install, but we received a discount on our electricity which has made it an economical choice.
i have never heard of that, how does it work? does it save on energy consumed?
that is impressive. hot water, aircon, stove, oven, washer, everything?
how big are your pv panels?
All our electrical needs are met by solar. We have a large lot (acreage) and we have an array at the back of the property (can't give you the exact size but, it is large). We have another array on top of our home (we have a Sante Fe style home - you cannot see the panels), there is a smaller array for the pool and pool heater.
Our stove / over is LPG
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