Western NY Geothermal Install

[johnny1720]

The heat pump arrived yesterday and was moved into the basement this morning. We were delayed a little due to family illness and the contractor's workload. The installer is arriving first thing and the entire family is leaving for the day. He said we should be able to return to the house tomorrow afternoon.

[johnny1720]

Almost everything is completed, the contractor needs to button up a few of cold air returns. All of the old duct work was removed and new was installed. The unit has been fully functional since Friday night about 7:00 PM. It has been running on stage 1 every time I have looked at the thermostat. The temp is set a 71 and it is 70 in the house. This afternoon it got up to about 35 degrees outside and the system made temperature and shut down for about an hour then it ran for about 25 minutes and was off for another hour or so. I am really looking forward to some subzero temps.

A few observations,
-The EWT is 41 and the LWT is about 38, I checked this after the unit ran all night long. I checked it again a few minutes ago and EWT was 42 and LWT 38.
-I can barely hear this unit run, the old unit used to bang and creak the metal ducts when it started up. I actually have to look at the thermostat to see if this unit is running.
-The contractor put collar ties with dampers so he could balance the load. Anyone that has a unit installed must insist that dampers be installed for just this reason.



I have been removing the old registers, that were not replaced power washing them and hitting them with some paint. The registers look brand new.


For me the first 48 hours has been wonderful.

[docjenser]

Congrats. Great to hear that everything went well so far. Keep us posted.

[engineer]

Agree that hand dampers on runout collars are very useful for balancing - they cost less tha $10 installed so are a no-brainer, although I don't specify them on runouts to large rooms I know will need max airflow.

[johnny1720]

The system has been installed for about 42 days. I got my first full electric bill, it was for 29 days from 2/22 - 3/22. Last year my bill for the same period was $122, this year it was $176. I have not burned my pellet stove and my oil furnace is not hooked up.

The system works great. I could not have heated my home for $54.00 with oil or pellets. And I do understand that it has been much warmer this year than last, But I still feel I am saving money.

[zach]

Not to mention you no longer have to load and clean your pellet stove.

Congrats!

Z

[johnny1720]

Originally Posted by zach

Not to mention you no longer have to load and clean your pellet stove.

Congrats!

Z

Yea cleaning the stove is not that big of a deal but I sure do love the house always being 70 or 71 degrees in my house. Today was really funny because I got a bill from my old oil company for a "Bronze Cleaning Package" including filter it was $150 + tax. It also says it will be past due in 10 days.

I will give them a call in the morning and explain life to them.

[engineer]

So the avoided cost of the "Bronze" maintenance call will heat your house for 3 months? How cool is that?!?!

[johnny1720]

We called the oil company today and said we don't use fuel oil anymore and the furnace is unhooked. So please reverse the charge on our account. Then they asked what we switched to and we said geothermal. The lady laughed and said she would reverse the charge.

They must really be hurting after this winter to be sending all of there customers bills for $150.