GeoThermal - higher ongoing costs or not?

voodoo

hi all,

I have spoken to several tradesmen and people who have had geothermal heating installed and its hard to get an understanding of whether it will actually benefit cost wise to us in going with it. Alot of people say that their ESB bills have increased to about €800 on two occasions, 400 on 2 and 200 for the other two bills. This would be a huge increase in costs compared to the electricity bills we are paying in our current house today... I know we dont have oil bills etc but even still, we worked out that our oil bills are about 1400 per year and electricity bills are about 1000 giving a total of 2400 on our current bills compared to 2800 with geothermal. If we also look at the additional costs of the geothermal initially you start to wonder if its worth it...

Open for comment

muffler

There seems to be split opinion on the geothermal set up and from what I have read on this forum it would appear that the majority of people are avoiding it.

Go to the main page of this forum and type in "geothermal" in the "search this forum" box and you will see previous posts with quite a difference in the opinions as I said.

gears

There are two "stickies" dedicated to heat pumps, you've probably seen them already and it may take some time to trawl through them but there is alot of good info in them both.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055433218

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055263818

damian1250

Hi,
I finished a new build 2 years now and almost instaled geothermal, cheque was signed and got talking to a guy who was sent to investigate them for a plumers merchants to start supplying them. Firstly the pipes under the ground are a gimmic and dont supply enought heat to make the system effecient, secondly you are using electricity to heat your house and what mainly makes electricity "OIL" as oil goes up so does the ESB bill. Since then i have become friendly with 2 guys who instaled geothermal and they both would remove the system if they could afford it as they are getting horrific ESB bills. I installed wood pellet with underfloor and i am heating a 2800 sq ft house for slightly less that my previous 1200sq ft house with oil which was only on approx 5 hrs a day and now my heating runs 24/7 365 days a year for €1800 per annum. Remember if you ask somebody that just paid €40000 for a new car and discovered it was rubbish would they tell you the truth !!!

RKQ

I'm very happy with my geothermal heating. Its very economical if you use night rate electricity. No need to wear shoes inside and kids love playing on the floor.

Oil is used to create esb electricity but so is hydro and wind. I'd like to think that a small wind turbine would be a great advantage at a future date.

Of course if you have a huge poorly insulated house and insist on high temperature in every room on each floor, 24-7, then your bills will be high. The same can be said for oil, gas or wood chip boilers!

Most would agree that oil is running out and it will get more expensive in the future.

I like geothermal because theres No ordering oil, no unsightly oil storage tank, no leaks or theft to worry about. No ash to clean out. Its got lots of advantages.

I'd advise the Op to look at the advantages and disadvantages of each heating system, investigate and satify your queries. Then make a decision on a system that suits your personal lifestyle and needs.

sinnerboy

RKQ - if you don't mind clarifying - how much extra approx did you invest in the GSHP vs a high efficiency oil boiler ? How many years of low bills to repay that extra spend ?

RKQ

Sinnerboy, Geothermal is more expensive to install - thats obvious, everybody knows that!

I am giving the OP my personal experience and opinion. The OP is free to make their own personal choice. The OP seems to want independent info without the sales pitch or unsubstaniated horror stories. I don't sell any type of heating system.

Its also obvious that in theory I can be self suffient, if I install a wind turbine. This can not be said of oil or gas.

All predictions indicate that oil prices will rise, petrol pump prices are now back to pre-recession prices and set to rise further.

sinnerboy

RKQ - I am not challenging you - just asking - how many years of your lower bills do you think it will take to payback your extra over spend ?

sinnerboy

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2009/10/heat-pumps-in-action

Report on field testing of heat pumps in Germany .