Got a haircut today
December 28, 2007
And what does that have to do with dreaming green? Well, my hairdresser and I were chatting and I told him we’d bought a piece of land and he said, “Oh, are you thinking of anything “green,” like solar or geothermal?” and I said, “Actually, yes!” We got to talking and he was telling me about a couple clients of his who had installed geothermal units in their houses recently and have loved them. Also, the city hall where his business is has installed a geothermal heating/cooling unit.
I know only the bare minimum about geothermal (pipes filled with fluid going underground to keep a constant temperature) and have seen diagrams, but have never really taken it seriously because I thought it was cost prohibitive. Now I’m thinking, hmmm. What a great idea in the desert, where it would help so much on cooling costs in the summer. Hmmm.
December 28, 2007 at 10:33 pm
Apparently it pays for itself in like 2 or 3 years! Very good return on your money, I’d say!!! I was just at someone’s house in Vancouver who had this system and they could say nothing but good about it…
December 28, 2007 at 11:21 pm
That’s encouraging to hear! I would love to visit a home that had the system in action and see/experience how it all works.
January 5, 2008 at 10:29 pm
[...] for them, according to the Rinnai website. They do not make electric ones. My hairdresser from this post has put in a tankless heater and plans to put little ones by the individual hairwashing stations. [...]
January 12, 2008 at 8:29 pm
The breakeven point for a geothermal investment is more like 10 to 12 years, but for a system that generally lasts 25 to 30 years it’s still a good investment. I have a system in my house in New Jersey, the former owner had it put in when the build the house. I pay less on heating than housing half the size in sq ft.
January 12, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Good to know, Tech. How does yours work? Do you use it for cooling, too?
January 6, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Be sure to check out a few sites:
canadian geoexchange coalition and geoproinc.com
the second site has a bunch of calculators that will help you in the purchase of your system. I have noticed many home owners seem to have focused on the pump itself and neglect the actual system (the pipes, loops, grout and silica) that makes it all work.
With enhanced grouts for example you can greatly reduce the amount of holes drilled and their over all depth. Also many areas in the USA and Canada do not have high purity silica and a few installers have been known to use less than optimal sands which can cause greatly reduced efficiency
RayTy
January 6, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Thanks for the info, RayTy. I will check those calculators out.