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Originally Posted by jplinville
does the heat feel more like the forced air systems with cold spots in the rooms or more like radiant heat, where it's a more comfortable feeling?
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Hard to say as I've never really thought about it. On geothermal the air is not heated as hot as a traditional gas furnace. The air coming out of the vents in a geo system is more along the lines of 90F and it runs pretty much constantly. I have not noticed any cold spots with the exception of where the ducting was not able to be run properly due to the addition in my house. There I use the baseboard heating to supplement the geothermal. I assume if I gutted the house in parts and was able to supply the proper amount of ducting it would be the same as other areas in my home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jplinville
I grew up with wood burning stove for heat in the main part of the house, and gas forced air systems for the rooms that didn't benefit from the wood burning stove.
Currently, our house has a 35 year old gas forced air system without A/C, which is a bit unbearable during the summer. I was quoted between $5 and $10k for a new system, near the $10k mark with central air. When I get the kitchen and bathroom done, I'm thinking of radiant floor heat.
My dream is to get rid of the old 55 gallon water heater and go with a tankless system, but the payback for one of those systems isn't in the time range I'm hoping.
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My salesperson told that if my house had already had ducting (and no pool fill charges) the cost would have been around $22-24k. After the tax CREDIT that comes out to about $15-17k.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jplinville
Due to living in coal country, I'd think there would be problems with drilling for a geothermal system here...
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I can't imagine why unless you have a mine under your home. Unless of course you are talking about political bias from others that you don't use coal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jplinville
When the time comes for us to move to our property in Utah, we've decided to build most of the house underground, with a modest dwelling above ground. This decision was made on the premise that heating and cooling prices would be much cheaper.
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Yes, Earth homes need very little energy to heat and cool it as the Earth acts as insulation.