Geothermal HVAC Contractor Recommendations?

Submitted by TheDonkinator t3_123ty30 in rva

The time has come to replace our entire dual zone HVAC system and I’m interested to see what it would cost to go geothermal. Does anyone have any geothermal contractor recommendations or geothermal HVAC experience to share?

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dustinator t1_jdwa1lt wrote

Most of the bigger companies handle it. Green Air does on the smaller side of things. It’s going to be stupid expensive compared to some of the super high efficiency heat pumps that are available nowadays.

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farberino t1_jdwumhq wrote

Yup. I got a quote from one of the larger HVAC providers when I was replacing mine (I can't remember which one), and they said that they hardly ever install them, particularly not on existing houses (where it's more costly to dig the well), in part because regular heat pumps have gotten so efficient that there isn't even that much energy savings for geothermal. I want to say it was going to be something completely insane like $70k including the well to replace one of my three heat pumps with geothermal.

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dustinator t1_jdwzfgj wrote

It’s been 14 years or so since I’ve laid a hand on one and even then they were pricey. I can’t imagine today

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TheDonkinator OP t1_jdx43uc wrote

Wow. Thanks for all this info. I wasn’t aware that modern heat pumps had become efficient enough to compete with geothermal operating costs.

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gracetw22 t1_jdxy0d7 wrote

I looked into it because I was willing to pay slightly more for a system since I’d worked on a farm with one that was THE BEST, and I was informed it would be around 50k more to install and maybe save me 20 bucks a month. I think it is best served in new construction with high needs and a lot of easily accessible space that’s already getting dug up

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TheDonkinator OP t1_jdy8dhk wrote

I was interested for the rumored efficiency and reduction in carbon footprint. I have enough yard for the wells, but would definitely have to take down/rebuild some fence to let the equipment through. If the 15-20 SEER heat pumps are now able to heat through a VA winter without needing the auxiliary heat, I think they’ll be a significant enough improvement from our 25 year old AC and gas boiler system that I’ll see the reduced install cost as a win.

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dustinator t1_jdx4n0d wrote

To the best of my knowledge it’s still not quite there but you’d be hard pressed to see a ROI on geothermal these days. Check out what Bosh has to offer. Their 20 SEER equipment is nuts

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Charlesinrichmond t1_jdxoi5z wrote

I've heard good things you like it?

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dustinator t1_jdxpdwy wrote

I saw 94° heat with no strips at the registers on a 12° morning after about 15 minutes run time. Wish I had put one in my house but I didn’t want to be a Guinea pig

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Charlesinrichmond t1_je0bq97 wrote

I did that with splits at a house this winter. Gree. But I've heard a lot of great things about the Bosch, and claims the error codes etc are great - like it gives you the high and low pressure.

I'm really intrigued. No strips inverter on the regular size heat pumps is clearly the future

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DCFishingGuy t1_jdwmay7 wrote

I recommend Green Air.

I do not recommend DeltaTemp.

I've used both.

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TheDonkinator OP t1_jdx4ax8 wrote

Thanks. I’ll probably have GreenAir work up a quote, though the other comments in the thread suggest it’s going to be even more expensive than I anticipated by a large margin.

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MegaSnorlaxEX t1_jdxe6ua wrote

I put in a request for quotes on a few local HVAC websites last fall and got a call from a WaterFurnace rep. He said he couldn't tell me for sure without an on site visit but looking at satellite images and talking about the size of our house he gave a rough ballpark of $50k. We have solar panels and he told me we would need to expect a bigger electric draw over the winter when we are currently building up a buffer that helps offset our summer cooling. That all makes sense to me. I am still interested but that price point means I will need to take more time considering my options.

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Original_Rain_5656 t1_je2c1v1 wrote

I just replaced a gas furnace / AC with a Gree variable speed/inverter heat pump (18 SEER). $9k for the heat pump plus some duct work I needed, minus $2k for the tax credit in the Inflation Reduction Act. There are great tax credits and income based rebates now for heat pumps, insulation, weatherization, and high efficiency hot water heaters. Mark Gardner at Dominion HVAC did a great job for us.

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TheDonkinator OP t1_je2fwc3 wrote

Thanks for the info and the recommendation. I’ll give them a call.

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