New Construction/Geothermal/WaterFurnace

[mreason711]

Hi guys. I am new to the forum. I am in the process of building a new home. It is coming time to make a final decision on my geothermal unit and I need a little help. I live in Tennessee. My home will be 3100 sf with all the living space on one floor with basement garage. House faces to the south.

My 1st decision is 4 ton or 5 ton. I have gotten 4 quotes. Only one has recommended 4 ton, the rest were all 5 ton. I am leaning 5 ton for that reason, my builder is also recommending 5 ton, would rather have more than enough than to build and find I don't have enough. Unless someone can convince me otherwise. More than likely going to do cellulose bib insulation on the walls with blown in in attic space.

The other choice I have is WaterFurnace series 5 or series 7? $4500 difference in the two with the 5 ton. One company gave me an estimated breakdown of my estimated heating and air expense. There was only $11 difference a month between the two. I know series 7 is more efficient but if they are correct on the utility expense difference, it takes a long long time to make up the $4500 when it is $11 at a time? So it is hard to see spending the extra money for a series 7. Any thoughts or advice? Thanks in advance.

[mreason711]

Anybody? Needing to make a decision today if anyone can offer any insight it would be appreciated.

[mreason711]

The annual heating load is 52.8 million btu's. The annual cooling load is 34.8.

[mreason711]

I have decided to go with 4 ton and upgrade my insulation. My decision now is series 5 or series 7? I am putting the unit in a basement garage which I am afraid will void the warranty on the series 7 since it is supposed to be installed in conditioned area and could cause it to overheat. My installer says "he THINKS he can make it work with warranty still intact by enclosing it in a closet with a vent". I am a little uneasy with him being non committal about the warranty. I don't want to spend this much money and risk not having a warranty on the unit. Any opinions? Help me skyheating?

[SkyHeating]

I have decided to go with 4 ton and upgrade my insulation. My decision now is series 5 or series 7? I am putting the unit in a basement garage which I am afraid will void the warranty on the series 7 since it is supposed to be installed in conditioned area and could cause it to overheat. My installer says "he THINKS he can make it work with warranty still intact by enclosing it in a closet with a vent". I am a little uneasy with him being non committal about the warranty. I don't want to spend this much money and risk not having a warranty on the unit. Any opinions? Help me skyheating?

Sorry I didn't see this, its been about 15 degrees above design conditions in my area of the world for the past week and a half with at least another 10 days this hot predicted.
Yes they do recommend the unit goes in a conditioned space but more specifically it states the temperature range(which I am to busy to look up) but it something like 40F-90F is the range of where the unit can be installed.

As for the 5 vs 7 argument, there is probably minimal savings you will see, the 7 is more about comfort and noise level. Think of how much extra we spend on eating out at a restaurant, upgrading to leather seats in a car, having an automatic transmission all for comfort, because we could make our own dinner, we could sit on a cloth seat and we could shift(as a race car driver I prefer to shift, just not in my work truck!) but we purchase and spend additional on all of these items due to comfort. Hands down I recommend the 7 series over the 5 and have not had a dissatisfied customer yet, each one has been amazed with the operation of the system and the comfort and noise level.
Also in many homes we will offer a 5 ton 5 series and a 4 ton 7 series, if you look at the actual heating and cooling output of the 7 vs 5, the 7 series has about a 20% higher output at the same entering water temperature so "rated size" does not mean much.
One thing to make sure of is that your installer puts in a FCV-GL flow center, the 7 series does not like to run with a standard flow center and for the price difference they quoted you it should be included.

[FarrellMackenno]

Hope that you managed to find the right insulation solution to everything, geothermals can be very tricky like you've said. You can actually call a plumber in for a second opinion but just make sure that you've got enough power to supply the whole household. See if your installer can give you a trial period if you're following his suggestion especially if he's just trying to get you to buy his equipment. Hope you managed to get everything sorted!

[balefulstare]

I have decided to go with 4 ton and upgrade my insulation.

Good choice, upgrading the envelope & reducing the size of the heating plant is money in the bank. It's probably too late but I would also incorporate window overhangs into the architectural design to limit solar heat gain through the windows.

[nm-heating]

I have decided to go with 4 ton and upgrade my insulation. My decision now is series 5 or series 7? I am putting the unit in a basement garage which I am afraid will void the warranty on the series 7 since it is supposed to be installed in conditioned area and could cause it to overheat. My installer says "he THINKS he can make it work with warranty still intact by enclosing it in a closet with a vent". I am a little uneasy with him being non committal about the warranty. I don't want to spend this much money and risk not having a warranty on the unit. Any opinions? Help me skyheating?

Any update on the on the installation? Could you not hae got a recommended installaer from the manufacturer of the unit ?