Open-Loop Water Source Heat Pump (Geothermal) System
When selecting a provider for the HVAC system in our 5000 sq ft home, with vaulted ceilings throughout, I did research over the internet and contacted all of the re-sellers of large US brands. Since they were all really in equipment sales, none of them could give any useful advice on the design aspects of a complete home comfort system. When I met Dennis Campbell of Polar Bear, he impressed me with his extensive knowledge and passion for acheiving the best fit between system performance, in terms of personal comfort, and hardware cost.
Dennis helped design the ducting layout after convincing me that a water-to-air system would deliver as comfortable a system as a radiant in-floor system could. Plus we wanted airconditioning and radiant in-floor doesn't provide cooling. He also provided advice on insulating.
The cost of our system included the entire supply and installation of the heat pump itself, duct work, water heaters, HRV, humidifier and it runs off our 350 ft deep well. I had other quotes up to $80,000; not including the duct work. The system is Certified through the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition.
After three years of operation, the features of the system that we are most satisfied with are the even temperature in all three levels of the house, how quiet the system is and of course, the low cost of operation. There are no cold zones in winter and no hot ones in summer. I'd say that the difference in temperature between floors is rarely more than one degree. Unless of course we want to close off ducts to change the temperature ourselves. We also have to listen very closely to determine if the furnace or a/c is running or not.
We've had two system failures, one caused by a plumber turning the wrong valve and the other when a capacitor failed. Both problems were looked after promptly and covered by warranty.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $41,000.00