As I mentioned in previous entries of “Going Geothermal” (see Part 1: The decision and Part 2: Picking a contractor), we were on a tight timeline for the geothermal system, and on the third day that we owned the farm installation began.

Waterloo Energy Products crew laying the geothermal loop.

Coincidentally, the day before installation began the oil tank also ran dry. We topped it up with diesel, and then our geo contractors spent more than an hour getting the old furnace running. They never did get the hot water tank working again.

This timing just confirmed for us that we made the right decision in going for the geo right away.

Here’s the schedule of how our installation played out.

Day 1:

Remove old pool room furnace. Move new heat pump and hot water tanks into the basement. Prep work.

Day 2:

Directional drilling. The geo system is made up of two main components: the loop field where the pipes are laid and the heat pump in the house. Somehow, the two systems have to be connected.

Option 1 for doing this is digging a trench between the loop field and the house and popping the pipes horizontally through the foundation wall, hopefully right into the utility room. In this scenario, the pipes will be about mid-way between the floor and ceiling, so if you can’t get access directly into the utility room, the pipes will have to run along the wall until they can get into the utility space. Outside you need clean access to the foundation, which means no patios or other obstructions between the loop field and the spot that you want to go through the foundation.

Option 2 is directional drilling (also known as horizontal boring) where a special drill rig tunnels in from the field under the foundation (and in our case under a patio and under a sun room) and pops up through the floor of the utility room. It’s a very clean installation, but you pay extra for the convenience of not having a big trench running up to your foundation.

The geothermal lines entering and exiting the utility room.

Also on day 2 our contractors removed the (non-functioning) hot water tank and the house furnace.

Day 3:

The Dig. This was the part I was most excited about. For our 6 tonne loop system, our contractor dug three trenches 300 feet long, 5 feet deep and 5 feet wide. It was a huge excavation. Fortunately, we have a lot of property and our contractor had a big excavator.

For some context picture me driving up to the farm at 7:45 in the morning (we weren’t living there yet) and seeing a giant machine toddling through the field behind the barn. It actually looked like it was picking its way delicately along. Of course, that illusion did not last as 15 minutes later the shovel was in the ground and digging had begun. One scoop of his shovel was a full 5 feet across.

The progress after just 15 minutes of digging.

He started digging at 8 a.m. and by 3 p.m. the loop was fully installed, the trenches were back-filled and the machine was on its trailer heading away down the driveway.

Two-thirds of the loop down, one-third to go. The mounds of earth you see in the centre and at the left of the picture are the two completed trenches which run for 300′ long. The third trench is coming around behind the run-in shelter. If you look closely, you might be able to see the green pipes ready to be laid in the open trench.

While the Waterloo Energy Products crew was working out in the loop field, another contractor finished all of the duct work inside, including tying the new system in to the pool room. Our system also includes a 10kw electrical back-up unit (in case anything goes wrong with the heat pump) and by the end of day 3 it was chugging away and we had heat and hot water in the house again.

Day 4:

Inside installation, including connecting the heat pump into the loop. By the end of the day, I had my favourite email from my WEP crew: “You are running on geo as of now!” Throughout the installation the crew was great at keeping me updated on their progress, letting me know what time they were coming the next day and what was next on the schedule.

Look how shiny! Our 5 tonne heat pump by ClimateMaster. (Ignore the old, decidedly not shiny water softener in the corner.)

Day 5:

Finishing touches and tweaks. Final hook-ups of hot water tanks (we have a desuperheater unit that captures excess heat from the heat pump and uses it to supplement hot water generated by our main electric hot water heater, hence the two tanks).

Day 5 also saw removal of our old air conditioner. One nice thing about the geothermal system is that there is no equipment outside. The loop is buried in the ground and the heat pump and hot water tanks are tucked away in the utility room.

And for a utility room, it looks pretty good. Everything is neat and tidy and very well placed. Every tour of the house now includes a stop to admire the geothermal system.

Coming up next in “Going Geothermal,” the question everyone most wants to know: the cost.

For previous posts in the Going Geothermal series, click on one of the links below:

• Part 1: The decision
• Part 2: Picking a contractor (including my questionnaire)

Here is the list of questions I asked all of our geothermal contractors. Click here for the post on how we picked our geothermal contractor.

1. How many geothermal systems have you installed?
2. What types of systems do you install most (horizontal, vertical, closed, open)?
3. What are the most common problems you encounter?
4. Do you subcontract any of the work?
5. How do you calculate heating/cooling load?
6. What should we consider in planning for an addition to the house?
7. Will you do locates for all of the utilities?
8. What heat pump do you use?
9. How much area do you need to dig?
10. How far from the house can the system go?
11. Are you able to install the loop on unlevel ground? (The answer to this one is yes)
12. What are the electrical requirements for the system? Can you upgrade the electrical if it’s required?
13. What changes to the duct work will be required?
14. What hot water system do you use? How does the hot water system work?
15. How long does installation take?
16. When are you able to book the installation?
17. How many people will be on site for the install?
18. How does service and maintenance work?
19. What warranties are on the system?
20. Will you remove the existing furnace, air conditioner, hot water heater, oil tank?
21. Do we need to have the ducts cleaned? Do you take care of this?
22. Where will the thermostat be? How does the thermostat work?
23. Does the weather affect the system?
24. Does the type of soil affect the performance of the system? (The answer to this one is no, but the wetter the soil the more efficient the system)
25. Do you take care of CGC certification? Is there a cost for this? (Certification from the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition is a requirement of the ecoEnergy program)
26. What forms of payment do you accept?
27. References?

I found these questions were a good way to learn about our system and understand geothermal technology. I tried to integrate the questions into our conversation during the site visits, rather than quizzing the contractors one question after another. Seeing how the contractors responded to all of my questions gave me an idea of their overall approach to customer service as well.

I guess you can call me a demanding client, but I believe when I’m making an investment, especially when it’s as big as a geothermal system, I want to know exactly what to expect and what I’m getting.

For previous posts in the Going Geothermal series, click on one of the links below:

• Part 1: The decision
• Part 2: Picking a contractor

I’ve already talked about making the decision to install a geothermal system at our farm. Now I’ll talk about how we selected our contractor.

We started getting our quotes before we took possession of the farm. We knew the furnace upgrades were somewhat urgent, and the ecoEnergy rebate program expired at the end of the month that we took possession. Our goal was to have the contractor selected and the work scheduled so that we could have our new geothermal system installed the first week we owned the farm.

We didn’t really know anyone who had geothermal, so we couldn’t get a referral. There were a couple of houses along our concession that had geothermal, and the contractors had posted signs at the edge of the road, so I got one number that way. Through the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition, I was also able to get a list of CGC qualified companies in our area. We made our short list, and I started calling people.

I called five companies to start. I asked each of them the same basic questions about how geothermal works and what would work best for our situation. Based on the initial phone interviews, I then chose three contractors to come out to the farm and quote on the job. The decision of who made the short list depended on how they answered my questions and the overall feel I got from our conversation.

The site visits involved looking at locations for the loop field, inspecting the duct system within the house and checking out the utility room to figure out how to lay out the new system.

I was also up front with all of the contractors about two things that could dramatically affect our system. First, I knew I wanted to eliminate the two furnace set up and include the pool room on the same system as the rest of the house.

However, having one system was contingent on using the pool room as just a room and not having an indoor pool. A pool causes issues with temperature and humidity that can challenge a geo system.

The second issue was that we know that we hope to add on to the house eventually, so we wanted a system that was sized to handle the larger square footage.

During the site visits, I had detailed questionnaires that I asked each contractor. I’ve posted the questionnaire here in case anyone wants to check it out or copy it for themselves.

This post from 3 acres & 3000 square feet was helpful in giving me an idea of what to look for in a contractor and what questions to ask.

Based on just the questionnaires, the three contractors were pretty evenly matched. Two out of three used the same brand of highly rated heat pumps. They all did heat loss calculations to determine what size of system we needed (although it was a bit of a guess as to how big our house would be eventually). They were all very experienced and had worked on lots of residential and commercial projects. They could all do the work within the time frame that we needed. And I liked all of them.

In the end it came down to the quotes. I was surprised with the amount of variation in both the systems that were recommended and the prices that were quoted.

• Contractor #1 quoted us a 5 tonne heat pump with a 6 tonne loop.
• Contractor #2 quoted us a 4 tonne heat pump with a 4 tonne loop for $3,650 more than #1.
• Contractor #3 quoted us a 6 tonne heat pump with a 6 tonne loop for $4,200 more than #1.

From what I can tell, most of the variation in the systems came from how each contractor accounted for future expansion. In the end, we felt like the 5 tonne heat pump with the 6 tonne loop would best meet our needs today and down the road. And I can’t deny that the lower price was a key part of the decision too. Reference calls yielded very positive reviews and confirmed the good vibes we had felt in meeting with the reps from the company.

So, we said, “You’re hired!” to Waterloo Energy Products and sent off our deposit cheque. Installation was quickly scheduled to begin the Monday after we took possession. And that’s next in the series. Stay tuned.

Click here for part one of the “going geothermal” series: The decision to go geothermal.

A rural area presents certain limitations when it comes to city services. Most likely, you don’t have natural gas available at the road. That means, when it comes to heating and air conditioning, you have a choice of oil or propane. However, large rural properties open up a third option: geothermal.

When we first saw the farm, we recognized quickly that the furnace was pretty old and would have to be replaced. During the home inspection, our suspicions were confirmed.

One of our old furnaces. Notice all of the soot.

There were two oil furnaces in the house: one for the house itself and the other for the indoor pool area. The pool furnace didn’t seem to be working. The house furnace, in addition to being ancient (probably original to the house), had been modified and jury-rigged over time so that it actually wasn’t in that great of shape.

The old air conditioner

The air conditioner also appeared to be original to the house (remember we’re talking 30-40 years old here), the hot water heater was also running on oil and the oil tank itself was 20 years old.

When we were talking options with our home inspector, we were focused on a new high efficiency oil or propane furnace. My brother who had tagged along during the inspection said, “Or you could do geothermal.”

We scoffed because the only thing we knew about geothermal was that it was expensive.

However, after talking things through, doing a little bit of research and starting to run the numbers, we decided very quickly to go geothermal.

Why we chose to go geo:

1. Since we had to upgrade the furnace, air conditioner and oil tank, we’d have to put out a significant amount of money just for up front capital costs.
2. Given that oil was our most likely option for our location, we’d have to continue to put out a significant amount of money for ongoing operating costs.
3. We plan to be in this house for a long time (notice the “forever house” tagline above), so the geothermal would eventually pay for itself, and we’d actually be able to save money over the long term.
4. Through the Government of Canada ecoEnergy program, we could get a rebate for installing a geothermal system.
5. We had the space to do a horizontal loop, the least expensive layout for geothermal.
6. It’s a green option that’s a lot more environmentally friendly than burning fossil fuels.

Click here if you’re interested in more on how geothermal works.

Once we made the decision to go geo, we had to find a contractor, which I’ll talk about in the next installment of “Going geothermal.”