Is Geothermal Heating and Cooling Worth the Cost? Heat Pumps Explained

Do you want a geothermal heating/cooling setup for your home? I know I do. And to learn more about geothermal energy, check out my other video on the topic: https://youtu.be/-HhdR9YRGxI?list=PLnTSM-ORSgi5LVxHfWfQE6-Y_HnK-sgXS

Warning: I invested the "Ferrari" of geo thermal systems a few years ago at a cost of about $40,000K for a closed vertical loop system. The system worked great providing cheap heating and cooling for about 3 years, and then just stopped. When they came to investigate, apparently the pipes had snapped because the bedrock rock under ground had shifted. To repair would have required a reinstallation of the pipes which would almost have been as pricey as the original installation, so needless to say I ended up getting a high efficiency propane system. I also was told this is a common problem with these systems, and found many horror stories on line. I wish I had known this before the original installation. Buyer beware.

My house has had a ground source heat pump (GSHP) for 18 years now. It works really great as I don't have any natural gas connected to my house. Also I live in Edmonton Canada which gets crazy cold in the winter. I have a closed vertical loop system

Ok, so I can answer the " how does it hold up " question. We put a geothermal furnace in at my dads house nearly 20 years ago now. We did it our self, all for under $5,000. It has worked perfectly, with no issues, since we installed it. It has RV antifreeze in it. The line is 6 feet down. It has worked excellent, and that is in northern Ohio ( some pretty cold winters! ).

You could use solar thermal on the roof and geothermal under the home to not only heat and cool the place and provide hot water, but also to generate the electricity needed to run the system. If the home is built with proper orientation to the sun and proper insulation, you begin with a home that requires only 15% of the energy a normal home requires. A Stirling generator that takes advantage of the heat differentials could possibly generate this low power requirement and the home could heat and cool itself automatically without a grid connection at all.

Converted my home to vertical loop GSHP system when I bought it 23 years ago. The previous owner was spending thousands per year on propane and that cost completely went away while my electricity costs were actually less. However, I did have several maintenance issues in the first few years that made me question my decision. After switching service companies things have run smoothly for several years. Can’t emphasize enough how important it is to contract with an experienced company with a long track record in this industry.

I had a house built in 1985. There was a 50% tax credit at the time, which brought the price down to be comparable to a conventional air-to-air heat pump. The entire system was $7800 before the tax credit. The closed loop, vertically drilled system worked great. I'm amazed this technology still isn't more common.

I just installed this here in Finland. They drilled vertically 160m. in the granit rock, coming +65C warming water in batteries and same gives warm wather for shower. Cost 22K€ minus some thousands back from taxes (because I changed off oil heating).

I converted from an oil fired hot water system to geothermal 8 yrs ago. I live in a cold climate, ADKs northern NY. It’s worked very well. After 30% tax credit, system cost for 5Ton unit was $20K and has yielded a roughly 9% ROR. Since the savings aren’t taxed that’s equivalent to a 12% pretax investment. Since I have a large 4 acre backyard, I have one long 450’ loop with outflow on one side and return on the other, 5 ft below ground that was trenched, laid & covered in one day for $3,000. The larger part of our cost was installing an air duct system in our two story home. I later installed a 9300 KWH solar array on my barn roof with 55% cost covered by State & Fed incentive. Our 3,000 sft home is now 100% electric heat, cool, hot water at under $100/ mo. Aside from the great savings and payback, both systems add a lot to property value.

In the 1990s, when my Dad looked into it, this was called "geoexchange." "Geothermal" referred to getting heat from deeper underground or from near volcanoes. For some reason, "geoexchange" was dropped.

Combined with phovoltaic panels, geothermal heating/cooling is one of the greenest and cheapest home temperature management systems. Great video, great topic

We're installing a ground source closed loop system at our house and they're using a technology you missed -- directional drilling. Rather than digging up your entire yard or bringing in a well digging rig, it can dig a few feet down and snake around under your yard without excavation. Same technology that was used to replace our below ground level water main when the old galvanized steel pipes burst. If you're thinking of installing a system, check to see if anyone in your area does directional drilling! Huge cost savings for the drilling component.

I've been interested in Geothermal heating & cooling since early in the century, particularly the dual source heat pump. You definitely want to have the space a soil types to dig, or a deep pond or lake in which the coils could be installed. It's amazing technology.

I saw this video after watching the Technology Connections video. This upload was perfectly timed! Love the two perspectives!

One of my internship as a Stationary Power Engineer was in a hospital that used a geothermal closed loop system to save energy and even after they discovered that an underground river was partly leaking the energy out, they were able make some good use of it. Thanks for the video and I can only wish to see more houses with geothermal systems in the future. :)

It would be great if new subdivisions were designed to incorporate a "shared" geothermal system installed under the roads/parks etc. Similar to how Toronto's Deep lake water cooling works for businesses, just on a smaller scale.

We live in northern Colorado and moved from in-town to a farm with electric base board heating and mini-splits. I'm using your content as part of my homework to best understand how to heat and cool a 2000 sq ft house. Fantastic information, plus excellent production as well. Thank you for putting your time and efforts into these topics. I subscribed too!

My wife and I have been looking into a Geothermal heat pump system but couldn't find an explanation to suit our understanding of how they work. Now we know. Thank you.

I installed Geothermal a couple years after adding solar energy to the home, my overall cost structure went from $4500 per "year" to heat/cool/appliances/Electronics/and gasoline down to $1000 per year for all that including an electric car. Sure investment was high, but I am planning on retirement having lower bills. So far it's working.

I put in a new geothermal system a few years ago. Upfront cost was high. About $32k for a vertical loop and a high end Waterfurnace 7 series. Initial savings were a little over $2k per year. With oil prices higher now, savings are at least $2.5k per year. At the time, tax credits we’re higher, so my break even cost was 5 to 6 years when you subtract the cost of a conventional system I would have bought and the tax credits. One thing this video doesn’t cover are the comfort advantages. For starters, the system is extremely quiet. You really never hear it. Instead, it runs pretty steadily at a very power efficient rate. So, there are no swings in temperature that you have in more conventional systems. Your house is just the temperature you want. You never have to even think about it. Oh, and because of the desuperheater, we effectively get free hot water during the summer months. If anyone is “on the fence” and seriously considering a geothermal system, I would strongly recommend they get one. I’m very happy with my system both for the efficiency and cost savings, but also for the comfort.