Comparison of geothermal heat pump with LWW pump

I checked the invoice again. People often report from memory, so I looked up the real numbers once more. It was €8049.16. Absolutely turnkey, including paperwork, disposal of drilling water, trench, house entry, insurance, etc. 120m as a single probe, already includes a 10m safety margin with improved grouting material.

Minus €5000 BAFA, minus €1200 subsidy in NRW (€10 per meter). So that would be an additional cost of €1800, although that’s not quite right, since you save the costs for the heat source of the air-water heat pump (costs of the outdoor unit with foundation, piping, labor costs).

So in the end, the brine-water heat pump with drilling was still a bit more expensive, but not by much. The costs were so close that just omitting the outdoor unit justified the additional cost. Plus options like passive cooling, a heat source that (hopefully) outlives us and never needs to be replaced. No risk of noise trouble with the neighbor, ...

BUT: That is a location question. We also built with architects, I could choose all the service providers. Of course, I also talked to idiots who offered drilling for €20,000 flat. You obviously don’t take those. Those who build with a general contractor and are tied to one heating specialist take what they offer or rather an air-water heat pump ... Regionally it will also not be approved, etc., so there really is no one true truth on this topic.

I checked the invoice again. People often report from memory, so I looked up the real numbers again. It was €8049.16. Absolutely turnkey, including the paperwork, disposal of the drilling water, trench, house entry, insurance, etc. 120m as a single probe, already includes a 10m risk surcharge with improved grouting material. Minus €5000 BAFA, minus €1200 subsidy in NRW (€10 per meter). So that would be an additional cost of €1800, although that’s not quite right because you save the costs for the heat source of the air-water heat pump (costs of the outdoor unit with foundation, piping, labor costs). So, in the end, the brine-water heat pump with drilling was still a bit more expensive, but not by much. It was so close that the mere omission of an outdoor unit justified the additional cost. Plus options like passive cooling, a heat source that (hopefully) outlives us and never needs to be renewed. No risk of noise trouble with the neighbor, ... BUT: That’s a location question. We also built with architects, I could choose all the service providers. Of course, I also talked to idiots who generally quoted a drilling price of €20,000. You don’t take those, of course. Anyone building with a general contractor and tied to one heating technician takes whatever he offers or rather an air-water heat pump... Regionally, the whole thing might not even be approved, etc., so there is no single absolute truth on this topic.

The subsidy has now risen to 35% (all brine-water heat pump costs). I have also heard of €8,000 additional costs from many GCs. That should fit. You get about €4,000 more in subsidies. So that would be about €4,000 extra cost.

Everything is changing. For us, it was still a fixed subsidy from BAFA; for the air-to-water heat pump, there was nothing at all, or the criteria were realistically not achievable.

And as I said, 8000€ was the cost for the drilling, not the additional price of the complete system. That is lower because only the heat pump itself costs the same, but the heat source in an air-to-water heat pump is, of course, included for free.
Fictional example:
Heat pump with accessories and labor costs 8000€ in both cases. For the ground-source heat pump, another 8000€ for turnkey drilling is added, for the air-to-water heat pump 2000€ for the outdoor unit. The difference is then 6000€.

But with monoblocks it is not like that again and air-water heat pumps can now also be subsidized. But yes, if I had been allowed, I would have seriously considered it.

I checked the invoice again. People often report from memory, so I looked up the real numbers again. It was €8049.16. Absolutely turnkey, including the paperwork, disposal of the drilling water, trench, house entry, insurance, etc. 120m as a single probe, already including a 10m risk surcharge with improved grouting material. Minus €5000 BAFA, minus €1200 funding in NRW (€10 per meter). So that would be an additional cost of €1800, although that's not quite correct, since you save the costs for the heat source of the air-water heat pump (costs of the outdoor unit with foundation, piping, labor costs). So in the end, the brine-water heat pump with drilling was still a bit more expensive, but not by much. It was so close that just the omission of an outdoor unit justified the additional cost. Plus options like passive cooling, a heat source that (hopefully) outlives us and never has to be replaced. No risk of noise trouble with the neighbor, ... BUT: That is a location question. We also built with architects, I was able to choose all the service providers. Of course, I also talked to fools who offered a drilling for €20,000 flat. Of course, you don't take those. Anyone building with a general contractor and tied to one heating specialist takes what he offers or else prefers an air-water heat pump... Regionally, the whole thing might not even be approvable, etc., so there really is no one true truth on this topic.

I have no more questions about the numbers. Such a low additional cost would be absolutely bearable for me! Thanks for checking. Because as you say, elsewhere contractors completely freak out over the prices for drilling.

I have no more questions about the numbers. Such a small surcharge would be absolutely bearable for me! Thanks for checking. Because as you say, elsewhere entrepreneurs totally freak out about the prices for the drilling.

Gladly.

Those who freak out are the ones who have no idea about it. You can only create a valid offer if you make some advance effort to calculate concretely. That was also the case with the guy with the €20,000. He was a heating engineer who only rarely installs brine-water heat pumps with drilling (like most probably), but wanted to offer both from a single source. It already started with the heat pump being offered way too large. I mean it was a Vaillant with 8 or 9 kW that he offered. When he then looks for a drilling company with this calculation size “just to get a quick price” … and adds safety on top because he actually doesn't know what he's doing. Well, then high defensive prices result.
Also, heating engineer number 2, who ultimately got the job, started with wrong heat load calculations. For example, he did not want to acknowledge that ventilation with heat recovery needs to be taken into account, “that hardly matters.” It does, of course, in insulated buildings (KF 55) nowadays. Suddenly, the heat pump was only 6 kW, the drilling less deep … I awarded the drilling separately, requested offers from two companies. Both obtained real data from the authorities about the geothermal yield in order to calculate correctly. Both submitted almost identical offers, I then decided based on gut feeling (both were already successfully active here in the new development area).

Oh yes, another hurdle with some service providers is the 100m. There is this rumor that you cannot drill deeper than 100m. Total nonsense. It may be locally true, e.g. because at x meters there is a layer that may not be penetrated.
The truth is the application takes longer because from 100m mining law has to be considered. Then the application from the lower water authority continues to the mining authority (or whatever it was called) and to this federal office for the search of atomic waste repositories (they give the green light that no nuclear waste should be stored at the location ). The application process took about 6 months.
But it is possible and saves a lot of money, because better to drill 1x120m instead of 2x70m. Every meter of drilling costs money.
In addition, several probes have to be combined, that also costs a bit. Setting up the drilling point twice also costs extra money, which can be saved.
For that, the operating costs might be slightly higher due to the circulation pump that has to do a bit more at that depth.