What Scott said!
Energy audit is best. Determine heat loss calculation and Geo system capacity. Find and fix the drafts and leaks. For foam be sure it is closed cell. This is where your air seal will come from. Lots of work, but if you removed the attic insulation then sprayed down a layer of foam and reinstalled the attic insulation would help a bunch.
Low-e windows, storm doors, etc all help. Check air filters as mentioned also.
We are running geo, but also have a fireplace. We have no problem making 95°f water for our water to water system. If we were to have a problem or deficiency, we have a Takagi tankless water heater to back up the Geo.
I have a panel meter that logs kwh used by our HVAC system. As of last night it had used 850kwh or $102 in electricity. A big month for us is $120 or so, but I've never tried w/o the fireplace. We are 2 story LOTS of windows.
Last edited by Hesperus; 01/24/14 11:34 AM.
