When building a previous home, not in The Villages, we got a quote on a ground source heat pump (Water Furnace). The system would have required 4 bore holes 250 feet deep for the closed loop heat exchange. We also considered an open loop system using well water. The payback was pretty far out. Another concern was the lack of multiple vendors - there was only one in our area and I prefer to have multiple sources. We went with a high SEER air source heat pump.
For The Villages, the high upfront costs, long payback period, lack of installers, and possible installation issues with the small lots are all impediments. If any builder around here was going to install ground source heat pumps it would be Green Key Village and they aren't doing it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arctic Fox
There is a lot of discussion on TOTV about putting solar panels on the roof, but does anyone have experience of using a ground-coupled heat exchanger?
To explain: "A ground-coupled heat exchanger is an underground heat exchanger that can capture heat from and/or dissipate heat to the ground using the Earth's near constant subterranean temperature to warm or cool air or other fluids for residential or industrial uses."
I should have thought that the relatively high water table in TV would make the use of one quite efficient, saving a lot of electricity when heating/cooling one's home.
Thoughts?
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