Clean Energy

Home Gets Geothermal Retrofit

Kevin and Sue Schreurs live in a 1700 sq.ft. home with lots of windows facing out into the beautiful prairie and wetlands gardens they have been restoring. They were looking for a way to heat their Rochester home in a more environmentally-friendly, economical manner than their propane forced air system. They decided geothermal was the way to go.

Their first step was to take a class offered by Rochester Public Utilities through community education, where they learned the basics of geothermal heating and received a list of local contractors who install geothermal systems. Using this list, they requested bids from three contractors.

All of the bids came in very close in cost, but varied in the size of equipment proposed from 3.5-ton to 5-ton. For their home size, the Schreurs used a 5-ton unit with the five 200-foot loops. Although a geothermal system can be connected to an air furnace such as theirs, they decided to install their system as a self-standing separate unit and keep the old furnace as a back-up.

The Schreurs chose to work with Johnson Comfort Systems [107 Center St. Lime Springs, IA. (563)566-2346] because they had experience doing more than 80 geothermal installations. Kevin and Sue were very happy with this company, but stress that it is important to talk to people who have used the contractor. Some contractors are not as experienced, and in their research they heard stories where things did not go as smoothly as it did for them.

The original plan was to do vertical boring but when Johnson Comfort Systems reviewed the well-drilling history for the site they were concerned about the sandstone. They suggested doing horizontal boring instead. They brought in a subcontractor who augered 10-15 feet down and threaded the pipe underground using equipment that bored horizontally without disturbing the surface, except for a small hole in the ground at the far end where the loops were joined together. Five loops of 200 feet flexible polyethylene pipe were placed 15 feet apart. The machinery was so accurate that the pipe emerged precisely into the 2 foot x 2 foot hole cut in the basement floor. The Schreurs were very impressed by this horizontal boring method which scarcely disturbed their yard.

The entire geothermal system was an investment of almost $20,000. If the Schreurs were to use the geothermal system to heat and air condition their home, the estimated payback would be about 7 to 8 years at today’s propane costs, but since they do not use air conditioning it will take longer to recoup the investment. It is also a bit difficult to compare costs because now they heat the entire house - they did not heat the basement before – and the heat is constant. They just enjoyed their first winter since installing the geothermal heat system and found their house feels more comfortable now.

The greatest challenge for the Schreurs was having patience for getting their geothermal system. The horizontal drilling operation was a small job for the subcontractor, and although they started the process in June, he could not tackle their project until October. Once begun, the system was complete in two weeks, with just 4 days for the actual installation.

All in all, Kevin and Sue are extremely happy with their geothermal system. It is comfortable, constant and quiet with virtually no maintenance –all they have to do is change a filter occasionally.