Capital members recommend geothermal system
Ready to enjoy the early years of their retirement, Jim and Jeanne |
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“I prefer to run around the house barefoot,” says Jeanne, who spends a lot of time in the basement craft and recreation rooms. “The concrete floor in my storage room is actually warmer than the carpeted stairs,” she says. |
Selby drew up specific floor plans for their new 3,400-square-foot home. They made a list of amenities they wanted, including a sound system, custom fireplace, lighted china hutch … and a geothermal heating and cooling system.
“Because of the instability of natural gas prices and the tremendous escalation in costs when heating with natural gas, we took a good look at geothermal,” Jim says.
During the building process, Jeanne says they planned to build their furnace room larger to accommodate for all the necessary equipment.
The Selbys fired up their geothermal system for the first time in December of 2005. During the coldest months of 2006, their heating bills ranged from a mere $30 to $50 each month.
“Our heat bill, or the cost of electricity, is running about what it was in town for a 2,400-square-foot house. Our new house has a lot more windows, and we don’t have trees outside, so it’s totally exposed out here in the country,” he says.
After living on Ridgeland Drive for only nine months, Jim says he’d definitely recommend the geothermal system to other Capital Electric members.
“We have friends who were paying $300 to $400 a month for their winter heating bill, when we were paying $30 and $40. I definitely think we’ll recover the costs sooner rather than later,” he says.
“It’s a very comfortable, warm home. We’re not cold-house people in the winter. You can go down to the basement and take off your shoes, and it’s just toasty warm,” Jim says.
In their old split-level old home, also in north Bismarck but served but a different utility, Jim says they used their fireplace as supplemental heat.
“In this new house, we’ve only started our fireplace twice – just to see if it works,” Jim says with a laugh.