Geothermal New Construction
New construction, or major additions or renovations are ideal times to install geothermal heat pumps for a number of reasons:
- A significant capital investment needs to be made to install a heating and cooling system whether it is conventional or geothermal.
- Retaining walls, patios, decks and porches have not been built which makes entry into the house very easy.
- The site is already disturbed and finished landscaping is scheduled to be done long after the geothermal installation. There are usually many alternatives for borehole placement. Since the geothermal boreholes and pipes are 4' below grade, they can be placed almost anywhere as long as they meet setback requirements for drainage, septic systems/sewer lines and wells/water lines. They can even go under future driveways. Future pool sites can be avoided.
- Large investments in equipment and control systems can be avoided altogether, e.g., air conditioning condensers and boilers.
- Investments in other components can be selected to specifically support geothermal systems, thereby avoiding costly replacements, e.g., the wrong air handler, zone control system and thermostats.
- The selection of the best insulation materials is particularly important for geothermal since the equipment can be right-sized for the thermal envelop of the house. The better the thermal envelop of the house, the lower the cost to install geothermal.
- The ducts are designed and installed to support the proposed geothermal system.
- Radiant floor systems can be considered and integrated into the construction plans which is much more cost effective than retrofitting a home for radiant floor heat.
- The electric service from the street can be appropriately sized for the entire house load. This is especially important for underground service, since upgrades are very expensive.
- Choices for back-up heat, domestic hot water and the use of generators can be considered and planned to be consistent with the geothermal system and the owner's objectives.
Planning for geothermal system up front in the design process is very cost effective. Even though geothermal systems cost more than conventional systems, the net incremental amount for the geothermal system is very affordable today and has excellent paybacks and return on investment.
