New construction, 20k to spend. What would you do?
- Thread starter jaydubb1
- Start date
apostolakisl
Senior Member
If you have water rights, you can drop a heat exchanger right into the water. Provided the water is deep enough and has a large enough volume to serve as a year round heat sink, it is one of the cheapest ways to do it.
apostolakisl
Senior Member
10 year payback isn't too bad. Of course that is at current NG/e- prices. Seems like NG is pretty stable in pricing now that we are fracking everything out there. Although geotherm triples-up as a hot water heater and as an AC unit.
You do have to like how the geortherm unit sits in the attic, is damn near silent, and tend to last a very long time since they live in such a nice protected space.
Which reminds me, highly recommend spray foaming the undersurface of the roof deck. My attic here in Texas never gets above 85. I measured last summer with a point and shoot thermometer. The cement tile roof was measuring 145 at 5pm on a sunny 105 degree day. The insulation surface temp was 88 inside the attic. It works similarly well in the winter. And while I don't have any vents in the attic, it stays relatively comfortable allowing me to use the attic for storage. Plus it keeps all the hvac ducts inside the conditioned space.
jaydubb1
Member
I love the "silent" part, love the thought of a long term payback... but I have to pay this year, don't get the kickback till next year, and that means a 14k out of pocket investment immediately.
I'd rather throw that money into my audio, I enjoy music today LOL!
Spray foaming... do I need that in Wisconsin? I'm more worried about a cold -30 than I am about a hot 130.
apostolakisl
Senior Member
Spray Foam absolutely. It makes no difference which side is hot. The bigger the inside/outside difference the better it performs versus regular insulation. The main deal is that it is a super good way to block air infilatration. It seals up every little nook and cranny. Also there are no gaps and no getting over packed. The colder it gets, the more pressure the warm air rising in your house will exert on the walls/roof areas of the upper floors, and the more negative pressure it will exert on the lower parts of the house. This is where spray foam really excels over conventional insulation, holding the inside air in and the outside air out.
Also, it is very nice and neat and clean. Fiberglass has all that fiberglass dust and itching, blown in stuff is sloppy. I am telling you, the spray foam is clearly superior. You will really be thankful when you head up to the attic to pull wires or whatever and it is a comfortable place to work and you have a clean shot at the attic side of the ceiling. And you can put temp sensitive stuff in your attic. You can have water pipes up there, and unlimited storage.
I also think it keeps the bugs out. We have lots of creepy crawlies here in TX and almost nothing gets in the house. This is especially nice regarding the scorpions.
You might consider an air exchange unit if you do foam. Foam tends to seal up so well that the inside air can get stagnant. The air exchanger exchanges inside air with outside air over a heat exchanger so you don't lose your hot/cool.
EDIT: I also went be surprised if you couldn't talk the geotherm HVAC guys into spotting you the tax credit until you actually get it.
Also, if you finacne right it wound't cost you anything extra at any time. Say you finance the $14k over 10 years at $120/mo and the unit saves you $120/mo in fuel. It's a wash, and then after 10 years its just gravy.
Neurorad
Senior Member
Lou, the ribbing in flex conduit actually decreases the cable hang-up - less surface tension.
And, adding and removing cables from a partially filled conduit can be excrutiating, as the cables bind to each other.
Definitely, install the conduit empty. Install cables outside of the conduit. The conduit is for future cables. Hopefully, you'll never need the conduit. It's insurance.
And, adding and removing cables from a partially filled conduit can be excrutiating, as the cables bind to each other.
Definitely, install the conduit empty. Install cables outside of the conduit. The conduit is for future cables. Hopefully, you'll never need the conduit. It's insurance.
apostolakisl
Senior Member
It's the pointy end of wires going around bends that hangs up on the ribbing as it jambs into the side. Not that that can't be fixed by using a big blunt tip, but it's just another thing.
If you run wire to a box outside the conduit and run conduit to the same box, then that would be fine. I was thinking you meant skip the conduit to the spots that you know what you want now.
Also, pulling new wires through a conduit that already has wire is easy. You just undo the wire at one end, attache a pull string to it, pull the wire until you get the string out the other end, then attach the new wire (plus or minus the old wire depending on if you are keeping it) and pull the string at the other end "re-loading" the conduit. Also, a little bit of soapy water on the wire makes life very easy for longer pulls. Always use water based lube, never oil. Water based will evaporate quickly and oil based won't and could dissolve the insulation over time.
I do have water rights. I have not heard of this type of implementation. I wonder who/where I can inquire about doing something like this. Ironically I am rebuilding all the bulkhead in the next few months, so perhaps this is the time...
apostolakisl
Senior Member
You'll have to lookup geotherm guys in your neck of the woods. I've pretty much told you all I know at this point. Things like the water temp, salt/fresh, depth, flowing/not flowing, size of body of water, height difference between water level and your house, your exact water rights, and what other uses you have for the water front could impact your situation.
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