anti-bitching, part 3 (?)

[Prngr44]

Looks like you're looping your geo coils in the lake? How far down did they bury them INTO the lake?

How many ton system did they slap in? Any zones?

I found out it was a six ton system...which is a little more than our house requires...I was told that our system will be a little more effecient than it would normally be because of this...so that's cool. And like I said, no zones, however, I was told they set the system up to easily convert to zones if we felt that down the road it was necessary.

And our thermostat is pretty kick ass. It's the most high tech thermostat I have ever seen. It's large and all touch screen. Pretty cool stuff.

We probably have the same thermostat... we went for 2 zones (upstairs and main floor), and when I asked about adding a 3rd zone for the basement (the circuitboard is capable of 4 zones) the guy said it wasn't as easy as it sounded because all of the ductwork would have to be re-ran. I guess separate zones require separate ductwork?

I was kind of underwhelmed by my apparent "savings" in the winter time. Mainly because I thought wow... if I'm saving 40% on this energy bill you're telling me it would be $400+ instead of $300???

Summer bills are definitely lower. Way lower than even my 1200 square foot house was with a higher thermostat setting. Maybe that's where the big savings come in and it just averages out over a year.

[cprice12]

Looks like you're looping your geo coils in the lake? How far down did they bury them INTO the lake?

How many ton system did they slap in? Any zones?

I found out it was a six ton system...which is a little more than our house requires...I was told that our system will be a little more effecient than it would normally be because of this...so that's cool. And like I said, no zones, however, I was told they set the system up to easily convert to zones if we felt that down the road it was necessary.

And our thermostat is pretty kick ass. It's the most high tech thermostat I have ever seen. It's large and all touch screen. Pretty cool stuff.

We probably have the same thermostat... we went for 2 zones (upstairs and main floor), and when I asked about adding a 3rd zone for the basement (the circuitboard is capable of 4 zones) the guy said it wasn't as easy as it sounded because all of the ductwork would have to be re-ran. I guess separate zones require separate ductwork?

I was kind of underwhelmed by my apparent "savings" in the winter time. Mainly because I thought wow... if I'm saving 40% on this energy bill you're telling me it would be $400+ instead of $300???

Summer bills are definitely lower. Way lower than even my 1200 square foot house was with a higher thermostat setting. Maybe that's where the big savings come in and it just averages out over a year.

I'm not up on the specifics of zones...but from what I was briefly told on Friday, dampers are involved...or they can be involved. Not sure about the separate duct lines. But he did say that you could cool one floor and heat another at the same time...so I guess you'd have to have separate lines...but I don't think we do. The next time I talk to him, I'll ask him about it.

All in all, the process was pretty cool. They connected the coils to the end of the buried lines that run from the water furnace, out the foundation wall six feet underground, down the hill and run and emerge out into the lake in about eight foot of water. They float the coils out to the proper depth, tie some cinder blocks to the coil frame, fill it with an anti-freeze & water solution...and it sinks to the bottom.







They ended up sinking the coils at a depth of about 11'-12'. They should be no shallower than 8' deep year round, even during the dry season for optimal performance.

[Prngr44]

Guess the residual free hot water is out of the question if they stuck antifreeze in there.

My system loops through my hot water heater when the tank dips below a certain temp. Instead of kicking on the water heater, the geo water cycles through. Basically instead of the cold line feeding my heater the geo system loops through. The hot water heater only has to heat the water from ~100 degrees to the desired temp instead of cold tap water.

We didn't even have our hot water heater running for the first few months and had no clue. It was the dishwasher that tipped us off. (It would pause in its cycles to heat up the water because it wasn't hot enough coming in.)

[cprice12]

Guess the residual free hot water is out of the question if they stuck antifreeze in there.

My system loops through my hot water heater when the tank dips below a certain temp. Instead of kicking on the water heater, the geo water cycles through. Basically instead of the cold line feeding my heater the geo system loops through. The hot water heater only has to heat the water from ~100 degrees to the desired temp instead of cold tap water.

We didn't even have our hot water heater running for the first few months and had no clue. It was the dishwasher that tipped us off. (It would pause in its cycles to heat up the water because it wasn't hot enough coming in.)

The anti-freeze/water solution in our coils isn't what will be coming out of the hot water lines and out of the faucet.
Our system uses a seperate "Hot Water Assist":

http://www.waterfurnace.com/literature/envision/WF1585.pdf

Hot Water Assist : The Envision preheats your water and delivers it to your
water heater. The longer the unit operates, the greater the amount of hot water
generated. In the heating mode the hot water is generated at the efficiency of the
unit. In cooling, waste heat is recovered and hot water is free!

On a side note...we started laying the engineered floor last night...and we realized after about 12 rows that we weren't laying it perpendicular to the floor joists. Not a huge deal I guess. It looks much better running this way anyway. This way, it is running front to back when you come into the house instead of side to side. I can always reinforce the floor with short 2x4 pieces between the joists and against the subfloor if it doesn't seem as strong...which I'll probably do anyway before I hang the suspended ceiling downstairs. It can't be that big of a deal though. If we were installing carpet, it wouldn't be as strong as we currently have it...but we'll see I guess.

[Ruutu15]

All of the little things that need to be done with a new house really scares me into buying one, not that I could afford it anyway without overextending myself. I'm beginning to think that renting will be the unfortunate reality of my life for years to come.

[cprice12]

All of the little things that need to be done with a new house really scares me into buying one, not that I could afford it anyway without overextending myself. I'm beginning to think that renting will be the unfortunate reality of my life for years to come.

Eh, it's a lot of work and there are a ton of decisions to make, but it's a great learning experience and you get to know a LOT about your house as it's being built...and hopefully you get exactly the house you want...or darn close to it.

If you build, it's nice to have a contractor that will let you do some things yourself if you want, or contract out some services yourself. Our contractor works kind of slow, but he's good to work with and does a nice job. He's a bit old fashioned and stubborn at times, but overall a good guy.

Would I do it again? Not if it's going to take 9 months like this one has...it's been too long. But if we could get it done in 5 months or so, I'd do it again if we ever wanted to move in the future...but I don't see that happening. It would also depend on our living arrangements while the house is being built if we sold our house early. Ugh...I don't even want to think about that. We're about two weeks away from moving in after 9 months of waiting...I don't want to think about doing it again.

[strocklen083]

Hell yeah, it's Friday!
A couple more hours and I'm off to the lake for 3 days!

[abc789987]

Hell yeah, it's Friday!
A couple more hours and I'm off to the lake for 3 days!

I got u beat though. I got 2 weeks off after today... Well really only 1 week but the 2nd week i get to "work" from home.

[strocklen083]

Hell yeah, it's Friday!
A couple more hours and I'm off to the lake for 3 days!

I got u beat though. I got 2 weeks off after today... Well really only 1 week but the 2nd week i get to "work" from home.

But you live in Indiana

[SIU LAW]

But you live in Indiana

[abc789987]

But you live in Indiana

yeah, yeah, but I came home to St. Louis for my time off!!!

[abc789987]

so i have been a compulsive nail biter for my whole life. I now haven't bitten my finger nails for 2 weeks and it's awesome. It's like I have another hand! I no longer need to to use a paper clip or my teeth to open a pocket knife or open the little tab on my phone to charge it. I can even pick up a coin off the table without sliding it off the edge or using a piece of paper. WOW!!

[big d note]

so i have been a compulsive nail biter for my whole life. I now haven't bitten my finger nails for 2 weeks and it's awesome. It's like I have another hand! I no longer need to to use a paper clip or my teeth to open a pocket knife or open the little tab on my phone to charge it. I can even pick up a coin off the table without sliding it off the edge or using a piece of paper. WOW!!

That's great! How did you manage to stop?

[abc789987]

so i have been a compulsive nail biter for my whole life. I now haven't bitten my finger nails for 2 weeks and it's awesome. It's like I have another hand! I no longer need to to use a paper clip or my teeth to open a pocket knife or open the little tab on my phone to charge it. I can even pick up a coin off the table without sliding it off the edge or using a piece of paper. WOW!!

That's great! How did you manage to stop?

Willpower I guess.

[WaukeeBlues]

I bit my nails terribly as a kid until I had braces, then it was impossible to bite them anymore and it kicked the habit for me. Distasteful in public and (as you pointed out) practical too.

[abc789987]

[abc789987]

sweet, it sounds like i will get to listen to the next 3 preseason games!!

[abc789987]

I had forgot how awsome this video is...

[big d note]

I'm going to see Clutch tonight at the Fillmore.

[SIU LAW]

I'm going to see Clutch tonight at the Fillmore.

Lionize (Tim Sult plays with them) is really fun live. I caught them with Clutch back in July. I bought their cds, but they got old really quick (I really don't rock out to reggae much you know). But their live set is awesome.