Name that Geothermal Unit!
At long last our WaterFurnace Envision geothermal unit is installed. It even has its own room—a specially built closet that sits on a platform in the corner of our garage. I guess we should name it. I refuse to feed it.
It’s fitting, I suppose, that the WaterFurnace should have its own little stage. After all, we sort of planned this entire house around our decision to use it. This choice made sense for us because we plan to live in the home for a long time and we also didn’t want to use any fossil fuel appliances.
I should clarify that typically geothermal units do not require their own room. People install them in the garage all the time. They also install them in attics and in crawl spaces. We opted for the garage because the layout of the house made it difficult to put it anywhere else. We had to build the closet for it because we are going for LEED registration which prohibits any exposed HVAC in the garage space. This is a prerequisite for meeting the Indoor Air Quality requirements of LEED. If an HVAC unit of any kind, geothermal or otherwise, is installed in the garage, there is a chance it could pull car exhaust into the supply air of the home. Nevertheless, people install geothermal units in their garages all the time; it’s just that not everybody is going for LEED.
The unit itself is smaller than I thought it would be. (After all these months of anticipation, I’d probably built it up in my mind!) It’s a good thing though because it barely fit in the closet the framers built for it. I can’t emphasize how challenging it is to get clear, useful communication between contractors who show up on different days to complete their respective punch lists. Anyone who attempts to build a green house will quickly learn that 3rd party communication leaves a lot of room for error (contractor to builder, builder to other contractor; or worse, contractor to ME, ME to builder, builder to other contractor). It can lead to a few inconveniences such as having to cut through a floor joist or two to make room for ductwork. Been there, done that.
While it’s true that the closet made for some extra expense and aggravation, I actually appreciate the reasoning behind the requirement. It would have been great if we could have put the unit in the sealed crawl space, but the north end of the house where it needed to be installed, had too little vertical space. Plus, it would have been a nightmare to service. We systematically ruled out all other options including putting it in the eave storage space above the master bedroom. We were hesitant to do that because of the weight of the unit and the also the damage that could occur in the unlikely event of a leak. Given our set of circumstance, we had one place to put our HVAC unit, and that was the garage.
We still need to hook the unit up to the electric water heater, which has not yet arrived, and insulate all the piping. At that point, we’ll be just about ready for start-up. Hooray.
Ode to the Great Seamstresses of World - Journal Entry - 02/28/09
Sleuthing the Noise in Our Ventilation - Journal Entry - 02/27/09
My Greenspiration Valentine - Journal Entry - 02/19/09
"SEAMED" Like a Good Idea at the Time: - Journal Entry - 01/20/09
Floors to "DYE" For. - Journal Entry - 01/15/09
A Funny Story about Our Kitchen Lighting…. - Journal Entry - 01/05/09
Happy New Year Greenspiration Voyeurs! - Journal Entry - 01/01/09
I.O.U. Journal Entries! - Journal Entry - 12/18/08
If Walls Could Talk, These Would Say, “I look MAVALOUS!”- Journal Entry - 11/27/08
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda- Journal Entry - 11/22/08
Name that Geothermal Unit!- Journal Entry - 10/24/08
This part of the construction process goes fast. - Journal Entry - 10/19/08
Okay, so we’re finally registered for LEED-H - Journal Entry - 10/08/08
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." - Jounal Entry - 09/16/08
It’s been a tense couple of weeks for Greenspiration. - Journal Entry - 08/11/08
A lot can happen in a couple of weeks. - Journal Entry - 07/04/08
Groundbreaking: A Tree Leans On Greenspiration - Journal Entry - 05/31/08
"How's the house coming, Trish?" - Journal Entry - 03/31/08
