We have a geothermal heating and cooling system and it was installed last year. I live in Maryland and the price of a typical system is around $24,000. Fortunately we took advantage of the 30% federal geothermal tax credit and that reduced the effective price by $7,200 to $16,800. Then we got a Maryland geothermal heat pump grant for $2,000 and a $2,500 property tax credit from Anne Arundel County which brought the price down to $12,300. We're saving about 40% on our utility bills now which makes the upfront price worth it. In terms of planting around your loop field, from what we've read, don't plant trees like poplars, willows, silver maples or elms around the piping as these types of trees have deep root systems that can wrap around pipes. Luckily the geothermal piping isn't prone to cracking and has a 55 year plus lifespan. We used Earth River Geothermal to install our system and we're glad to have made the switch sooner than later. Check out this link for relevant information. Geothermal Heating and Cooling Here is a link that might be useful: Geothermal Heat Pumps

I have a horizontal system . I rented a machine for 1500.00 ( big excavator) , dug a 60' by 120' hole 7' deep . took a day to dig and 1/2 day to backfill . Putting in the geothermal loops took a day . I bought my loops in a package with the manifold , flow center and geothermal pump . So I am not sure of the cost of just the loops . I also bought a 1000.00 worth of sand to put under and over the loops . $7700.00 seems pretty reasonable to have someone else do the work . If you are interested there are videos on UTUBE that show loops being installed . Just do a search for geothermal loop install .

The size of your system is determined by your building requirements as determined by a Manual J or other accredited analysis of envelope heat gain and heat loss. This is irrespective of all other factors including heat pump type (air source or ground source) or loop design. Water is never a problem, except perhaps during installation; in fact itÂs a big benefit, even more so if itÂs running, as this adds to the efficiency of the ground loop. An open loop system will probably have to discharge approximately 10 gallons per minute. ThatÂs approx. 14,400 gallons per day! An open loop system would have to be inspected regularly and de-mineralized periodically. Discuss this with you contactor as to frequency and price. Closed loop systems do not require this, however periodic analysis of the circulating fluid is still required to verify anti-freeze content level and fluid integrity. DX systems do not require any of this. If air-conditioning comprises much of you space-conditioning requirement, consider an open loop passive cooling geothermal heat pump: http://www.how-efficient-is-it-magazine.com/geothermal-passive-cooling.html I also strongly urge you to contact an accredited IGSHPA installer in your area. SR Here is a link that might be useful: IGSHPA, International Ground Source Heat Pump Association at Oklahoma State University

I don't know what the exact problem is here and how it got there. I do know that at one point or another if the customer threatens legal action or just won't agree that that the company has done what it should, that company or person is likely going to be advised by their lawyer to cease all contact with you and wait for your legal options to commence. At one point you may be considered an non satisfy-able customer. Again I am just passing on info I am not judging. I do feel I can pass judgement on Nick at Terrasource and can tell you that his cell number is the same as when he gave it to me in 2010, that he always returns my calls, that he always took time to help me during my install, a number of times I might add, and once when my water to water system stopped working, he helped me trouble shoot it over the phone, bad capacitor, bought a spare for $28 CAN and used it till he was able to send another, which he did under warranty. 2 years my water to air stopped working. Again a phone call, left a message, got a call back within an hour or so, troubleshot the problem with me, again a bad capacitor, this time had a spare I could use from the previous time. He will be sending me another shortly. If I have to replace the $28 capacitor on each unit in 5 years to heat a 4500 sq ft home and an attached 1100 sq ft garage, add all our other hydro use-age to it and pay $4700/yr CAN total, well I'm pretty happy about that too. Yes that is in Canada where it's "COLD". What I would like to know is how this customer lost pressure in a line, and then in 2 or 3 more lines later on. To me this can only point at 2 things. One being a bad batch of pipe. This could be possible but highly unlikely. The pipe is rated for much more pressure than what is being used but let's say there was the odd million to one chance that a portion of pipe so poor was passed on to a customer that did have a leak, well that could be possible. But now to have 2 more leaks on other lines, well that just seems to point at the other possible cause of the problem. The customer, or the people they hired to install the loops, the excavator or both may have contributed to the pipe being damaged/kinked enough to greatly undermine the strength of the poly pipe. To avoid any mistakes, when we installed these loops ourselves, we took great pains to ensure that during backfill they would not get moved or damaged. Hint: lay the pipe, backfill 2' taking great care at the end loop, and lay the pipe going back. Then backfill the remainder. You're excavator might not like it but ensures the pipe is laid correctly. I can see how backfilling it all at once could crush the loops as well as move the pipe. I personally think that the one and only customer I know of that is complaining about this system did not make sure the loops were installed properly and ruined them. We have enjoyed the huge savings buying the DIY system, and also later in my utility costs, I also know that every inch of our system was done by us and not someone rushing or having their mind somewhere else or just not caring. And by the way, 3/4" line works perfectly for us and I like the fact that my manifold is not underground and welded.