The Old Folks Home

[pennyJo1960]

Looking real good there cap

 

[microchick]

Good job, Cap! Considering all you have been through this summer with your health I'm impressed you got this job done.

 

[bruceha2000]

Your place is just off of the ideal zone for a heat pump. They are energy efficient in temperate zones for heating. In not temperate zones, geothermal heat pumps(just means they bury pipes to run water through to keep the coils at a steady temp) work well. I saw a chart that showed a very low monthly cost to use them in both summer and winter. Sadly they are a bit pricey to install but I bet that the pipes can be installed for less as a DIY

The "problem" with heat pumps is that in cold climates you need a backup system. That is OK if you have a wood stove, not so good if you need pay for a whole heating system that you hope to not use often. They also aren't great in hot places for A/C. It is expensive to get "cold" out of 100°F air just like it is expensive to get "warm" out of 0°F air. Also, the ones I've seen are 1 outside unit per inside "dispurser". That gets quite costly if you don't have an open floor plan where the air can circulate easily.

Geothermal is cheap to run AS LONG as you don't set the temp back at night or when you aren't home and want quick recovery. Then they kick in the 240V heaters and your electric bill goes sky high. They, like radiant floor heat, are inherently slow to bring the temp back up. For both, set the temp and leave it. Geothermal is always working with 40° to 50° water so "squeezing out" heat and cold is relatively efficient.

Around here geothermal means drilling wells, too much ledge to do horizontal loop. I'm still looking for someone to give me a quote, might have a line on one now BTW there is a 30% federal tax credit on residential geothermal installations.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

That is a pretty picture. That little one is loving it!

I think he would get singed or actually burned before he would think it’s too hot. I’ve seen him get inside his bag on the deck in the summer, in the sun. Absurd!

He loves that bag. And blankets. And sun. But if you weighed under six pounds, you’d love the woodstove in cold weather too!

 

[pennyJo1960]

Back so many years ago raised them they all had bags I made for them lived in Juneau Ak back then

 

[trumpeting_angel]

X2!!!

X3!

 

[trumpeting_angel]

The BR that was hiding in the nest box for 2 days this morning I walked in she had passed these are over 5 now lost two of them

 

[CapricornFarm]

Looking real good there cap

Thanks Penny and Micro. Not quite done, still one side needing a skirt, the top needs done, and a few other areas need hardware cloth. But it is almost done enough to let them out during the day!

 

[ronott1]

The "problem" with heat pumps is that in cold climates you need a backup system. That is OK if you have a wood stove, not so good if you need pay for a whole heating system that you hope to not use often. They also aren't great in hot places for A/C. It is expensive to get "cold" out of 100°F air just like it is expensive to get "warm" out of 0°F air. Also, the ones I've seen are 1 outside unit per inside "dispurser". That gets quite costly if you don't have an open floor plan where the air can circulate easily.

Geothermal is cheap to run AS LONG as you don't set the temp back at night or when you aren't home and want quick recovery. Then they kick in the 240V heaters and your electric bill goes sky high. They, like radiant floor heat, are inherently slow to bring the temp back up. For both, set the temp and leave it. Geothermal is always working with 40° to 50° water so "squeezing out" heat and cold is relatively efficient.

Around here geothermal means drilling wells, too much ledge to do horizontal loop. I'm still looking for someone to give me a quote, might have a line on one now BTW there is a 30% federal tax credit on residential geothermal installations.

I have seen a system that uses pipes in trenches and not drilled deep into the ground for a house system.

It is called ground source:

I will need to check on the current heat pump systems to see how the do in 100 plus temperatures. The system below would would on those days but they are more expensive to install

With this system, you would not need a source of heat on a cold day because the temperature of the water would keep the heat pump from freezing up.

It is not really using geothermal heat but gets the temperature to not need the supplemental heat.

Where I live, the record low is 17F. about 20 days a year the low will be about 30F. I would almost never need supplemental heat but in the mornings on those days.

I did not have to break ice on the chicken water fountains last year at all.

One advantage of living in a hot place. This is the map of where Heat pumps work for heating in the winter:

I am in zone 4

 

[bruceha2000]

Yes, when I say geothermal ground source is the basic idea. In some cases it is a closed loop as you showed, it can also be run in a quantity of vertical shafts or a single deeper one. In others water is pumped from a source - well, lake, etc and run through the heat pump. It is then dumped somewhere - well, lake etc. No way I'm pumping water out of the ground then dumping it at ground level!