LP supply and prices

[Shaggy98]

I know very little about geothermal, but anything that is green and economical has my attention. Working on plans for a small shop, I wonder if geothermal is an option for in floor heat? Anyone have an evperience?

[minnisota]

Geothermal heat is the best heat of any. It heats up everything real nice and even and it's especially nice if you have to work on a piece of machinery on the floor. You get geo and you'll be happy ya did and wonder now why didn't I think of this. 

[weedman]

We put a 5 ton unit in our shop. 70x60 about 12 ft high average height ceiling. It is forced air. I'm not sure it would be so economical if only used for heat. A/C is where the real efficiency comes. We only used about $45 for cooling  all summer and right now we are using about $2 / day for heat. Don't get me wrong, $2 is darn cheap for the area we are heating. About480 sq ft out of the 4200 is office heated to around 68 the rest has been around 55. Our loops cosist of 5-800ft 3/4 in pipe placed around 8ft deep in coils about 3 ft in diameter. At the end of cooling season the incoming fluid was around 60-62 and I'm still in AZ so I haven't gotten a fluid temp so far. I'm sure the fluid temp is dropping and the efficiency is going down. It'll be interesting to see what our fluid temps will be when I get home the middle of March or so. Maybe it will still be winter the mid of March and I can stay a little longer. Or maybe you guys in KS will be planting when we come thru. Still hoping to stop and visit you guys in the dryland.

[weedman]

Our cooperative is definitely not cheap except for the switch makes sense program which allows us to pay about .048 per KWH for heating and cooling. Otherwise our rates are around .13.

[Kay/NC]

We asked the local HVAC guy about geothermal several years ago. His explanation was that it requires a pretty airtight house " envelope" to be feasible, and our old frame farmhouse with many modern retrofits failed that tests to me. Pretty pricey up front...not the problem to me, but spending that much and still being uncomfortable would be!

[Kay/NC]

Our rural coop power is several times more expensive per kwh as the big utilities. I priced this out in both Va and NC...reason given are that they buy power from the Progress Energy and other grid sources, and mark it up to us. I know they get wholesale rate, but we still pay several times as much.

Other reason given was customers per mile of line...we do not generate enough revenue for the infrastructure to transmit to us.

Of course, when our coop management built a huge new complex of plush offices, our rates nearly doubled.....

[Kay/NC]

Cell phones and LP aren't even as much alike as apples and oranges. Cell companies are in a really competitive market. Right now, in some regions, if you can get fuel to keep your family warm and safe, you had better take it.

We saw a girl we know griping about her rice on FB the other day...wanting to know who else she could call for a better price. Truth is, if you don't own the tank you can only call the company that does.

[Shaggy98]

If geothermal isn't feasible in a house setting, I wouldn't think it would be any better in a shop. I better do some more homework, because I definitely want a heated floor.

[belarus]

What's your electric price? What fuel would you be replacing? Would you put in a loop? Or pump and dump? What's heat load on your shop? How many feet of pipe in floor in how many circuit?