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To add to Stoney's post, AC is where you should concentrate your upgrade dollars for HVAC. The key is the sear rating of the unit. Most builders use 13 sear, which is a single fan unit. You can upgrade up to a 20 sear unit. The higher the sear rating the better the efficiency. I also believe the higher sear units have dual fans, but am not positive.
Stoney - Thank you for your through response to the HVAC topic going on.
I was just reading that the President and the Speaker may be close to a deal, so let's talk about the SJP gas company!
I was focusing in on the heating aspect as I knew one of the keys too lower, better A/C performance was a more efficient A/C unit, that being a standard A/C unit or a Heat Pump. This past fall I installed a new natural gas furnace / electric A/C unit, so in my mind I had already performed the research on the A/C part. But I did find the thought on they cathedral ceilings and insulation thought provoking and will take that in to consideration for the design of my future house.
The Geothermal systems sounds very interesting. I wonder if there are builders in the area who are experienced in the instillation of those systems. and wondering out loud...... would the higher expense of installation ever pay off.
Pony - I appreciate your comments on HVAC and SEER too!
Is there a link to the elevation plot map that you discussed in your earlier post. I know Members Club is the highest point in Brunswick County. I am in the Reserve and believe I am about 50 feet above sea level, but am curious to check it out on the map.
Regards,
Pony
Pony - It looks like the Member's Club is at 58 feet above seal level. The highest point in that area is just to the North and West and is at 62 feet above sea level. You can do a "Parcel Search" on Lot 2190000112.
The Geothermal systems sounds very interesting. I wonder if there are builders in the area who are experienced in the instillation of those systems. and wondering out loud...... would the higher expense of installation ever pay off.
There is a house under construction in our neighborhood that has geothermal heating. The builder is Blue Sky Builder.
1st, in this climate you can compare a standard HVAC sytem to geothermal in the same way you can compare a new Mercedes Benz or BMW to a 1962 low end Chevy..... the geothermal is just about the height of the latest technology and will last MUCH longer with much less servicing and no "built-in" time span for replacement.... with the tax credits available and the huge savings in $$ of electricity for the next 25 + years it is definitely the better system all the way around, especially dollarwise. It is the "initial" investment, which is higher, that stops people from installing a geothermal system, that higher initial cost and the fact that the "builder" usually does not want to do it, it changes his schedule, makes the building process a bit longer and he usually discourages it's use. If you investigate with a Geothermal contractor directly you will get an "accurate" picture of the entire process and the savings and comfort that will result.... of course this is all just my opinion.
2nd, it is not the "builder" that installs either system, it is an independant contractor that the "builder" hires to put in a system. The geothermal company that is most well known in the area is Wilmington Geothermal Heating & Cooling | O'Brien Service Company . They are the company we are speaking with about a system right now.
Last edited by Stonecreek67; 12-18-2012 at 07:06 AM..
O'Brien is the company we used, our house was build ,1983, with geothermal
installed at the time. last year we replaced one of the units using the
tax break and end price was equal to a heatpump.
the other added benefit with geo is that there is no external unit to
rumble all summer and winter,.
Stoney - Great information! Thanks for the link as well.
Playing around it looks like I could have savings as much at $1300 per year. The cooling savings alone are impressive.
Since you are in the middle of this (and 3 years ahead of me) do you have a guess at what the extra cost is for a geothermal system is above the cost of what comes standard with the home you are building?
Movedtothecoast - It seems that your system is highly reliable!
not only highly reliable but also out of the three
choices, heatpump, gas and geo, [we have had all three]
the geo is our all time favorite.
there isn't the dryness that one gets with gas and
you actually get heat , as opposed to a heatpump.
we have had the three different systems while living in NC.
This year' Cat-Tales are now available on the POA web-site. Jan-Nov are up now and Dec will go up soon. We just completed January 2013 and we are looking forward to doing something special in February (any suggestion?). bill and barbara voss (Cat-Tales editors).
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