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mono442yesterday at 7:11 PM4 repliesview on HN

It's usually so much more expensive than an air source heat pump that makes it completely not worth it.


Replies

jltsirenyesterday at 7:36 PM

That depends on climate. The longer and colder your winters are, the more you benefit from the reliable efficiency of a ground source. Ground source heat pumps have been the most common choice for heating new single-family homes in Finland for the last ~20 years.

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twothamendmentyesterday at 11:43 PM

Yeah, not worth it in most cases, but when things line up, it is the best.

I've built 3 houses and got a bid on ground source heat for each one. I finally pulled the trigger on the 3rd house because we:

1) Moved where it was quite a bit colder, -20F for a week is common. 2) We have enough land to trench only 6'/2m deep to bury the loops instead of drilling like we would have needed to do on the first 2 houses. 3) There was a tax credit on it 4) No equipment exposed outside

Absolutely love it and it will make it difficult to move away when we want to down size b/c we'll pay more in utilities for half the space.

We also have some air-source on an addition I built, I'd use it anywhere that was slightly warmer than where I'm at.

cenamusyesterday at 7:19 PM

Yeah, recently saw some numbers for air-to-air vs air-to-groundwater, and it break even after more than 25 years, with more than twice the initial cost

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dzhiurgisyesterday at 11:30 PM

Bingo. Literally abandonded in Lithuania, air to air is so much cheaper. Some builders even ditch hp altogheter - basic electric underfloor heating + solar panels is so much cheaper.

I'm in New Zealand and my bedroom heater is $20 electric + $20 smart plug + $10 temperature sensor. Winter bill is ~$100 NZD. It would take ~20 years for heat pump to recover install cost alone.