Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

[Seuss]

Looking at alternatives for heat, have an unused fireplace in the basement, was going to get a pellet stove, but several clients of mine have gone the geothermal route recently, they're at opposite ends of the spectrum from an up front cost standpoint, was looking for pros and cons of both if anyone wouldn't mind offering their $.02.
Thanks guys.

 

[Maggot]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

Probrably need to consider a lot of factors....

-how long do you intend to keep the home and you age
-age of home condition of chimney
amount of effort in carrying wood or pellets..back to your age
-cost of geo vs wood/pellets...you can probrably burn a lot of pellets for the cost of geo

do a LOT of research and be sure of the contractor before you spend your money. Were it me Id consider natural gas. With the huge new finds it could get a lot cheaper, its clean, and easy to install.

 

[Seuss]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

here for the long term, home and chimney are in excellent shape, I have a weak mind but strong back and am hatching an equal in my 13 yr old.
My ever skyrocketing gas bills are what are leading me to look at this.

 

[Bob Shaver]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

My insurance gompany had a hissy fit when they saw the wood furnace in my basement.

Because geothermal draws on the earth's constant temperature, it can also be used as an air conditioner in the summer.

Just my dos centavos.

 

[paraman1]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

I don't have a pellet stove but I do have a wood stove insert . Just something about the nice dry heat coming off of it that feels nice on a cold winters day .

 

[Kinsman]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

My home is all electric, heat pump, so a geothermal add on could save me a bit of money.
But I am too old to see the payback, and I don't have the money anyway.
I have a zero clearance Buck fireplace with a blower that gives me 100% of my heat (until the fire goes out at night).
I cut and split my own wood, and I figure that my monthly bill is much lower, and I get some much needed exercise.

 

[mscott]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

Wood pellets get expensive real quick. We went through about 3 bags a day for a while and realized it wasn't a good idea. From what I've seen lately that's about $14 a day. The stove came with the house, so I never did any research on it. Gas must be really expensive where you are. Geo is probably a good idea for the long haul.

 

[spaniel]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

Remember they're talking about the "green bailout", in a few months Uncle Sam might pay 50% of the cost of switching to geothermal.

 

[cnwrobb]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

Geothermal=expensive, but can be used all year long once installed. One friend installed a geothermal system when it was a fairly new thing in our area. Had many problems which could not be rectified by his installer who soon went out of business. Another friend has one installed in Central Illinois where I live, and he raves about it. His small house(1675 sf) has 2x6 sidewalls. It is extremely well designed and insulated. Wood pellet stoves are expensive, pellets are sometimes hard to find, have to store the pellets somewhere dry (usually inside) takin up space and like El Shavewa pointed out, insurance agents usually go ballastic and want you to carry additional insurance policy. Most people in our area have be smitten with the outside wood furnace which keeps all the mess and fuss associated with wood stove out of the house. These units are plumbed into your hot air plenum and transfers the heat throughout your whole house. Not a cheap system, but keeps the mess and dirt outside along with making insurance man happy. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Guest]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

Have you looked into tax breaks for each?
I seem to remember my HVAC guy saying that you get a pretty stout one with geothermal.

 

[Red Ryder]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

Evertytime I see smoke coming out of a chimney or see one of those big outside furnaces I think of how we're being told we have to cut down on our "carbon footprint." One of these days, some official is going to make an announcement that wood burners have to have scrubbers installed to prevent the release of carcinogens and the like into the atmosphere. Just sayin'

Stranger things have happened.

 

[malaga2]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

I really like our Wood Pellet stove to supplement out oil furnace...season on $750 for pellets and about $600 on oil...prior to the Wood Pellet stove we were spending about 2k on heat....saving approx $600 per season...stove paid for itself...

 

[chad3]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

Any reason for not wanting standard wood heating? Price of wood even if you pay is cheap compared to oil. I've been burning for a while now in my own stove and about 20+ years living with the parents. Oil just as a backup.
As a side, pellet stoves need electricity and therefor will be at a loss if the power goes out. Worst time for that.
Chad

 

[Switchblade]

Re: Heating the home- pellet stove vs geothermal?

Why work hard schlepping wood or pellet bags? Geothermal or Ventless Gas would be the way to go. I was looking at a small wood burner for the basement myself. INitial cost to install a wood burner is way cheap using Tractor Supply available stuff, however, that means schlepping wood during the winter, storing a rick or few out in the cold or taking up space in a garage. Pellets, same thing. Need to find a place to store them, then schlep the suckers to the burner, and YOU KNOW it ain't going to be Panty 6 doing the schlepping, it's gonna be YOU.
Geothermal or gas is the way to go. Pay a little each month, no schlepping burnable fuel, just sit back and enjoy a nice toasty place...yeah, toasty is good.
It's freakin 19* here outside, 60* in the house. I need a heater in the basement to warm it up, but insulation and all that other crap comes first so I don't waste my hard earned money

 

[Kinsman]

Some have mentioned the trouble of "shleping" the wood from pile to stove, cutting the wood, splitting the wood, etc. It is hard work, but spread out over a couple of months each year, it's not bad.
I'm 71 years old, and I can still do all that, and enjoy the work. The comfort of the wood heat when the outside temp is in the 20's is worth it all. It was 23 degrees when I got up at six. Inside, it is 78 degrees, and the heat pump is not running.
I do like the idea of geothermal. It's not too late to install on my existing system, but the cost of a well, pump, and heat exchanger is a bit much.

 

[EXTREMEPREJUDICE]

I put in a GEO two years ago, tax break of 20% of the install/startup cost. My year round average for heating and cooling is $68.00 per month. Our utility company gives a reduced rate on the electricity (separate meter) used by the geo system. I have property with clay below the topsoil so underground loops were the preferred option and supposedly most efficient although you can read varied opinions on this. They claim it takes 5 years to recoup the initial cost differential compared to a forced gas system as the GEO systems are relatively costly, but after the first two years they have made a believer out of me (was a little skeptical initially.)

 

[Guest]

OP was 4 years ago. I'm guessing he's decided by now.

My more than 2 cents worth
http://www.snipershide.com/shooting/bear-pit/204087-our-geothermal-project-pictures-words.html

 

[c1steve]

Can someone explain how geothermal and 50 degree earth can warm a house to 70 degrees? This part I do not understand.

Or does the geothermal bring the base temperature up to 50 degrees, and then conventional heat does the rest?

 

[former naval person]

Right, Steve. Plus in summer the AC is the earth.

 

[Guest]

Can someone explain how geothermal and 50 degree earth can warm a house to 70 degrees? This part I do not understand.

Or does the geothermal bring the base temperature up to 50 degrees, and then conventional heat does the rest?

Geothermal still uses refrigerant to extract heat. The gain against a conventional air to air system is in the base temperature, which is usually warmer than the outside air in winter and cooler in summer.
In winter, a conventional heat pump will have to periodically reverse the process in order to defrost the outdoor unit's coils. The system then implements strip heaters to keep warm air flowing into the home while the coils are being defrosted.
A geothermal system has no outside coils, and so there's no need for a defrost cycle.

A conventional heat pump can't keep up on the coldest of days and nights, because there isn't enough latent heat in 15-20 degree air to produce heat for the home, so the highly inefficient strip heaters are implemented. Some people use gas or oil in lieu of the strip heaters, but natural gas is the only thing that comes close to dollar per BTU numbers that Geothermal produces.
Geothermal systems will be extracting latent heat from 50-60 degree air (produced by the earth's relative warmth), so they can still manufacture heat when the outdoor temperature is beyond the working range of conventional systems.

 

[Headquarterz]

I have a coal fired boiler in my garage. Neighbor has a geothermal system. Several family and friends have out door wood boilers. I would highly recommend the outdoor boilers as opposed to the others if you have a readily supply of firewood.
And+1 on the pellets being expensive and availability can pose a problem.