CASCADE, IA — When All Seasons Heating & Cooling, Dubuque, Iowa—a 75-employee sheet metal and mechanical contractor set up to do design builds or bid and spec jobs—was called to provide an HVAC solution for a newly constructed building at large agricultural farm in nearby Cascade, meeting with the facility owner and reviewing their wants and needs to determine the total design of a geothermal system was top priority.
The main objectives included in-floor heat for the main farm shop, forced air heating and cooling for the offices and in-floor heat for the wash bay. The building consists of a very large farm shop, approximately 13,000 sq. ft. with 20 feet plus ceiling height; the office is approximately 1,200 sq. ft.; and the wash bay is 5,500 sq. ft. “We chose to heat the wash bay with an LP boiler and in-floor system so it can pump a large amount of heat in the area during subzero conditions in winter,” says Dan Fens, whose role at All Seasons Heating & Cooling starts with designing the system to staying on the project through each phase: sales, service, and project management for each job all the way to the finish line.
Installation
Starting the project in June 2023 and completing it in January 2024, All Seasons Heating & Cooling installed forced air and hydronic ClimateMaster geothermal units, which includes a 26-ton horizontal loop, or slinky loop as Fens describes it, installed under the back parking lot and farm field behind the building, dug in at about 10-12 feet in depth. “We went extra deep on this building to cover the loads due to the overhead door opening and closing all day long, causing extended run time on the systems,” says Fens.
In particular, there are three ClimateMaster TBW five-ton water-to-water geothermal units heating the shop floor and a ClimateMaster TES five-ton split with a matching variable speed air handler to help with backup heat as the overhead doors open and close throughout the day, and the TES unit also provides cooling and dehumidification over the summer months.
The offices are heated and cooled with a ClimateMaster three-ton TEV two stage geothermal unit with a variable speed blower. All the flow centers installed are pressureless so there is no extra stress of pressure on the piping, both on the in-floor system and on the source piping in the ground looping. “These are all my personal preferences to use for ease of servicing later,” says Fens
Piggybacking off of that ease of servicing concept, Fens recalls that the only real challenge on the design and install of the project was moving the main mechanical room around and fitting all the units in while still having easy access to service the equipment in the future.
Operational Savings
Furthermore, the most important goal for the farm owners, of course, was cost of operation, or savings, for the geo system. According to Fens, operational costs were estimated at $2,100.00 per year versus an LP system, which is around $9,100.00 per year to operate, if LP is factored at $2.00 per gallon. Local utility Maquoketa Valley Electric Coop power company also provides a .053 cent discount rate for geothermal customers in the area, which also helps reduce operating costs.
“I did get the heat plus reading from the power company for the total bill for the last 12 months of heating for the farm shop and office areas on geothermal,” says Fens. “During the design phase of the project, I had estimated the annual operating cost at $2,100.00 per year. The actual cost of heating was $1,597.84, so 27,270 kwh used on the geo rate. Because the farm is extremely busy with the overhead doors opening and closing consistently throughout the day, this is proof of what a heavy-duty loop installation can do for the efficiency of a system. This is what we strive for on every installation we do, high quality looping is a critical part of a geo system,” continues Fens.
The tax credits and utility rebates helped with the investment options of 30% residential and 40% for American-made equipment for agriculture and commercial installations, “but the bottom line is a well designed and installed geo system is our future,” says Fens. “It is the only system that will pay for itself over the lifetime of the system, almost every time. Even without tax credits and rebates, once the geo looping is installed it is a lifetime of free energy. Essentially you are installing your own power source that produces pure energy, it doesn’t need to be refined and has no carbon footprint.”
Some other basic benefits of installing geothermal include a 10-year parts and labor warranty from a well-known manufacturer and a 15-40% heating and cooling savings, which can vary by power company and region. “I believe geothermal is the right thing to do for our environment and I feel better on a personal level installing it over gas or electric equipment. This is who I am and what I believe, which is why I have stayed with geothermal for more than 26 years, installing more than 2,000 systems,” says Fens.
Fens’ work and experience shows as the owners are completely satisfied. “They expected a great system for their investment and so far it has been great,” says Fens.