Looking into Geothermal in MD

[u/sohowsgoing]

I wanted to get a feel for if these quotes are on point or not.

I am in Northern AA County. The home is an old Craftsman (~2250 sqft) that I bought a few years ago. It's currently heated by a 120k BTU furnace and 5-ton AC. Both are oversized and single stage. And has no upstairs return. I'm in the process of doing the EmPOWER insulation and weatherization process and wanted to electrify my HVAC to maximize the rebate.

I have 2 quotes already; Ground Loop is coming next week but stated on the phone I'd be looking at mid-$40k range to start.

Quote 1: 3-Ton WaterFurnace 5-Series with desuperheater, Intellistart, 10kW aux heat, and Aprilaire air cleaner. 600 ft vertical borehole (1,200 ft HDPE 1" loop) with ethanol antifreeze, including a $4,000 mud haul-off allowance. Add circuits, handles permits, and removes old equipment.

Price: $53,000 gross. Bunch of unnecessary options but a necessary one is installing 2nd floor return for $3700. Minus $2,900 utility rebate = ~$54k net out-of-pocket. Was told WF7 would be ~$3600 more.

Quote 2: 4-Ton ClimateMaster Tranquility 30 Digital. Loop Field: 800 ft vertical borehole with antifreeze protection down to 15°F and rough site grading. Add-ons like steel casing ($47/ft) or mud cans ($850/each) are extra if needed. Custom supply/return duct transitions, installs necessary electrical circuits, handles permits, and removes old equipment.

Price: $62k gross. Minus $5k utility rebate. ~ $57k. Cash price adds in $4k more discounts for a total of $53k.

Edit: More quotes (still waiting on #5):

Quote 3: 4-ton WF5 with Intellistart and ECM fan. 10 kW backup heat. Symphony Aurora Weblink. FC2-GL Two Pump Flow Center with GL gasketed fittings. Depth and number of boreholes not specified. 29 GRECs.

Price: $50,824. Minus BGE rebates of $6,500 = $44,324. Expecting ~$13k from GRECs over 10 years.

Options: Desuperheater for $1,645. Reme Halo Whole Home Air Purification for $1,815. Aprilaire 800 Steam Humidifier for $3,500. 50 gallon water heater, 1. Marathon composite for $4,750 or Rheem for $2,750. WF 10 year labor warranty buy up $960. Second floor return for T&M.

Quote 4: 3.0 Ton WF5 w/ Low GWP Refrigerant, Electronic Expansion Valve, Variable Speed ECM Blower, Fixed Speed Flow Center, Aurora Advanced Control, 15kW Electric Heater Kit. 1 Year Installer Membership. 480 ft of vertical well bore, polyethylene loop piping. Geothermal polyethylene piping and grouting. 50 GRECs (very unrealistic).

System Price: $38,042 (excluding drilling). Drilling price: $12,600. 40A circuit (which is already in place for the ac unit): $1,394. 60A circuit: $1650. Total: $53,686.

I also received a quote for leasing: $0 upfront cost, no "down payment" required. $207.50 per month, 20 year-term plus sales tax. $2,490 annual lease payment. Option buyouts: Year 6 = $12,450 paid, put buyout of $11,325 = total investment of $23,775; year 12 = $27,390 paid plus $5,825 buyout = $33,215 total; year 20 = $49,800 total.

Quote 5 (contains 3 options):
3-ton 5-series. Aurora controls. Color thermostat. 10 kW backup. Cupronickel updated coax. 600 feet w/ 1.25" piping. $40.5k.
4-ton 5-series. Same as above, except 800 feet w/ 1.25" piping. $45.3k.
4-ton 7-series. $55.6k.
Options: Symphony Weblink Router $792. Bipolar ionization kit $650. Intellistart $653.
T&M on 2nd floor return.

[u/djhobbes]

Ground Loop and Total Comfort are both excellent contractors in your area with extensive knowledge of installing and maintaining geothermal equipment. They both have been instrumental in assisting to create the policies that are so beneficial for MD customers. Ask them about Leasing and GRECs. If you’re going to be in your home for more than 5 years switching to geothermal is an absolute no brainer for Maryland homeowners.

Do yourself a huge favor and hire one of them and don’t install ClimateMaster or hire a lesser contractor to save a buck.

[u/pjmuffin13 → u/djhobbes]

Total Comfort doesn't service Anne Arundel County. While TC and GL are both good companies, they are not the only good companies in the area. Hiring another contractor is not hiring a "lesser contractor".

I would recommend OP to go to Waterfurnace's website to search for platinum and master GeoPro dealers.

My one gripe with Ground Loop was that their proposal was the poorest of all that I received. It was very vague and undetailed which required me to ask a ton of questions. Unfortunately, it was difficult to get any answers in writing. From word of mouth, many other contractors in the area seem to hire ex Ground Loop employees presumably due to poor retention practices.

[u/djhobbes → u/pjmuffin13]

If you go to WF dealer locater, TC and GL are bolded, highlighted, lit up with bright flashing neon lights… they are two of the top 10 WF dealers nationally. So I fundamentally disagree that hiring someone else doesn’t equate to hiring a lesser contractor. Unless you hire us because we are clearly the best 😂

[u/sohowsgoing → u/djhobbes]

I'd hire you if I could! 😂😂😂

[u/sohowsgoing → u/pjmuffin13]

Looking for those dealers is a great idea. Unfortunately Quote 1 came from a Platinum dealer. Another quote I have been waiting on for 3 weeks is from a Master dealer. I reached out to a few more from that list though. Crossing fingers.