My skepticism about geothermal heat pumps was way off

I always thought geothermal was just hype for rich people with too much land. But last month my neighbor in Denver got a 5 ton system installed for $28,000 after tax credits. He showed me his electric bills from last winter, they dropped from $380 to $120 a month. The system uses a loop buried 200 feet deep in his backyard, so it works even in Colorado's cold snaps. I did the math and his payback is around 7 years. Has anyone here switched to geothermal and seen similar savings?

3 comments

3 Comments

emmaking2d ago

Mine was $32k after credits here in Maine but my winter bills went from $450 to $150. Loop is only 150 feet deep and it handles subzero temps fine. Payback at 8 years for me. Everyone I know who got one says the same thing.

lee6892d ago

8 years payback sounds great until you do the math on how long I've been putting off fixing the hole in my roof. My old oil furnace is basically a campfire with a blower attached to it and I'm pretty sure it's held together with nostalgia and pipe tape at this point. The longest I've ever committed to anything is probably a Netflix series so signing up for an 8 year payoff feels like I'm proposing marriage to a heat pump. But hey if it actually cuts my $600 February bill down to something that doesn't require a second mortgage then maybe I'll finally have enough money to fix that roof.

jake7472d ago

Pretty sure half the houses in my neighborhood are held together with pipe tape and good intentions too. @emmaking's numbers sound solid but I'd probably need a second loan just to cover the shock of actually following through on something. My buddy Rob got a heat pump last year and he says the only thing he regrets is not getting it sooner, but Rob also once committed to a 10 day juice cleanse so his judgment is questionable at best. That $600 February bill though, that hits different when you're scraping ice off your windshield at 6am wondering if the furnace is gonna make it through another winter.