Geothermal System Complete!

Well folks...the geothermal installation is complete.  The upstairs unit is functional and they've cleaned up.  I've posted some pics below.  Now, I just need to get the drilling folks back here to remove the rest of the "spoils" and get the concrete guy to pour our new driveway/walkway.  It's funny because I was worried last night after I noticed TED showing an extra constant ~300 W.  Talking to the HVAC guy, that was because the upstairs thermostat wasn't functional...so the flow center didn't have a signal to 'shut off' so it kept running.  Now that everything is functional, the 'mystery' 300W is gone.

Here's the hydronic unit (located in the crawl space) for the upstairs 

Here's the downstairs combo hydronic and air handler.  You can see the new crawl space duct work in the background.

 

Here's the flow center.

Here's a pic of all three units.  You can see the return/supply lines running in the background.

Here you can kind of see the desuperheater connection to the hot water heater

Here's the upstairs air handler connecting to the new duct work.

Here's the new duct work to the bonus room.  This should help significantly especially during the summer months as that old duct work was falling apart.

The HVAC guys installed my attic tent for me...even though I didn't ask.  Thanks guys!

Here's where the old heat pumps were located.  Ahh...no more!  You can see the new drain.

Upstairs system online!

Yeah!  The hvac guys are done and the system is online.  there's a little bit of catching up to do, now.  also the front drill spoils need to be cleaned up but after that everything will be done.  Then we can do the driveway.  pictures soon to follow...

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Downstairs geothermal operational!

Almost finished....

The downstairs geothermal system is operational!  I didn't even know when it turned on...I just got up to use the bathroom and noticed it was 68 degrees inside.  That's pretty awesome.  Below is a pic of the "HD" thermostat.  I'm probably going to buy the wireless outdoor sensor ($60) so it'll have the outdoor temp on it too.

The Honeywell Prestige "HD" thermostat

Below are some pics of the geothermal units installed.  The pics aren't that great (I can't find the camera), so I'll post some better once I figure out where it has disappear to.

On the left is the upstairs geothermal unit.  In the center is the return/supply flow unit.  On the right is the downstairs combo geothermal/air handler unit.  

Tomorrow, the guys come back and will wrap up the upstairs unit as well as cleanup.  The drillers will be back tomorrow also to remove the rest of the well "spoils" from my front yard.  That will finalize the geothermal system installation.  The concrete guy should be back on Monday to pour the concrete for the driveway/walkway.  At that point...the project will be fully complete.

Stay tuned for TED information.

Look ma, no heat pumps

A pic of my "reclaimed" garden

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Lake johnson

Its getting full...  Luckily, the drillers are done

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Pure mayhem

It is pure mayhem around here.  The driller is doing his thing (I got to see quite a geyser) and that's just a mess.  Then the HVAC guys are in the attic tearing out all the old stuff preparing for the installation of the new air handler.  The neighbors, I'm sure, are going, "What the...?!?"  It's funny because I've at least seen 7 cars use the turn around at the end of my street...and I rarely see ANYONE go down there except for those who live in the houses.

I'll fwd some pics via my cell...

Various Pics

Mornin'

I've uploaded some additional pics for your viewing pleasure.  Today, the drillers should wrap up as they only have one more well to go and I bet they want their drill rig and 'ditch witch' back (that's been sitting in my front yard all weekend).  The HVAC guys are going to install the new air handler in the attic plus the additional duct work.  I'm not sure but they may also do some work down in the crawl space as well.  The owner stopped by on Saturday and seemed to indicate that inspection would be on Tuesday.

Here's the return/supply line installation (before the drillers go there).

Here's the grey goo that is all over my front yard.  My guess is that it's bentonite clay that they use to fill in the well once they put in the piping.  If you feel it with your fingers is very fine, almost silky, material which lends me to believe that it's an engineered product and not natural (aka didn't come up from the well).   

Here's the silt fence they erected to hold back the grey goo from flowing down into my neighbors driveway.  They had to put up a second 'layer' to contain the stuff.

 

 

Here's where the return/supply line enter the house.

 

Oh yeah...and hopefully my dishwasher will finally be fixed too.

Drill

Here's a pic of the drill rig.  You can see the 3 completed wells with the pipes sticking out.  One more to go..which will be completed on monday.  Hopefully the entire project will be complete as I'm in missouri and my wife is away too.

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Digging Trenches

So yesterday, the the guys trenched for the return and supply lines.  I've posted some pics below...I kinow, not overly exciting, but somewhat interesting nevertheless.
Today, they are physically laying the return/supply lines and the driller *should* show up and start drilling the wells.  I'll post those pics later today/tomorrow. 

Above are the trenches for the return/supply lines.  The "X" is where each line will go to a well.



The trenching machine.  They have a machine for everything these days don't they?





Here's the trench going to the house.  The trench ends at the crawl space wall where they'll punch through to connect to the flow control center.



Crawl Space Duct Work

Many thanks to my beautiful wife who took these pics below of the duct work replacement in the crawl space.

Above is a bunch of the duct work with the old 26 yr old air handler.

Here's the dirty old crappy air handler.

Look how dirty the old duct work is....blah!

 Here's the new duct work.  Those connections look like their are mastic-ed together quite nicely.

OK...more pictures should be taken today and uploaded as they continue working....stay tuned...same bat time, same bat channel

Pics of Today's Work

OK...so the guys are finished for today.  They've replaced my attic main trunk line...and that's it. Below are some pictures:

Here's where the wells are going to be drilled

 

 

Here's where the supply/return lines will go.  Hank is investigating...

The new duct connection to the old duct board.  The duct board will be replaced when the new geothermal air handler is installed.  The only reason it's hooked up now is so I have upstairs heat until they get the wells drilled.

Pic

Here's a pic of the attic duct work before it goes up to the attic to be installed.

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Work is beginning

Get excited folks!  The work on my geothermal (ground source) heat pump is beginning.  The HVAC guys (Panther HVAC, Rock Hill, SC) are here and they are tearing out my old duct work and installing the new stuff.  Unfortunately, I got the bad news that the driller won't be here until Thursday.  That blows....but at least Panther is going to get all their stuff done before they arrive.  That means all my duct work will be replaced and the Equipment will be installed.  They will even run the return and supply lines to the well area.  Then...once the wells are drilled, piping installed, pressure tested, and inspected by the City, they can make the connections and begin startup.   That also means the new driveway won't be poured until at least Monday or Tuesday next week. 

That does mean, however, that I will be without HVAC for the week.  It's a good thing its going to be in the high 60s/low 70s all week.  Plus, if we need heat, we can use the gas log...which we've pretty much been using to heat the downstairs since we got it. 

I'll post some pics later today.  BTW...my better half will be around the rest of the week and will either post the pics herself or will send them to me to post. 

Delayed....BAH!

Well....I just got word that they won't start drilling until Monday...what's a nice Valentine's Day present.  The HVAC guys are also going to take care of the attic duct work too.  I'll make sure I take lots of pictures.  I'll be there on Monday when they start drilling but unfortunately, I'm out of town for work, so I'm going to have to rely on my better half to take lots of cool pictures.  I'm soooo tempted to buy myself one of those internet webcams to show the progress.  We'll see...

Electric Bill and Driveway

OK...so we got the electric bill for last month.  The total...$165.45.  High, but definitely not as heartbreaking as the $253 for last month.  TED predicted $162.31 for the month.  That's an error of 1.9%.  That's pretty good.  Factors for the error?  Who cares? It was in the neighborhood to have a consumer product with an erro less than 5% is a miracle.

For the geothermal, the driveway is being removed as a type.  See the pic above. I called the HVAC company and they expect the driller to be over by mid week.  So that probably means the system won't be online until after the weekend.  I tried my best to coordinate a smooth transition, but oh well.  I can live with a dirt driveway for a week.  Thank goodness the driveway guy is accommodating.

TED Update

OK...so before we install the geothermal system, I thought I'd update y'all on the TED.  From the history above you can see there's been a significant reduction in energy usage so far.  While it hasn't been as bitter cold (no teens resulting in 100+ kWh days), there's still lows in the 30s.  So our previous days of 70s, 80s, and 90s for energy usage has been reduced to 40s, 50s, and 60s.  Last Sunday was a gorgeous day with highs around 70, but that 41 kWh is skewed because that was cleaning/laundry day.  Wednesday is a good look as it was pretty warm out (50s) all day.  When I got home from work it was still 65 degrees inside...so that's probably why only 25 kWh was used.

Anyhow, I'm not celebrating yet.  We need to get a natural gas bill to see how much that's going to be as we've been heating the downstairs with it although we generally don't have it on much more than 2-3 hrs/day which should cost us ~$0.8-$1.2/day.  And we haven't received an electric bill yet for January...which I'm guessing will produce lots of swears.  

BTW...I've been playing with the HTPC to hibernate when not in use and then it has an 'alarm' to turn back on for a recording.  I haven't gotten to play much, but I did get it to hibernate and then wake back up on alarm after 5 minutes.  I just need to take the time to play more.  Setting this up could reduce my baseline electricity (i.e. "always on") usage by roughly 40%.

I'll keep you posted...