Questions

[Dixie Dude]

I am planning on selling my house in town and moving to the country soon and build my own energy efficient home, and try to get off the grid as much as possible.
 
1) How much does a septic tank and field lines cost on average for a say 3 bath home?
2) How much does a drilled well cost on average?
3) Has anyone put in a ground water heat pump system either drilling a seperate well or installing about 200' of 2" pls pipe about 5' deep and 5' apart in their yard?  How much did it cost?  Can you install your own 200' of piping and your own septic tank and field lines? 
 
My plan was to get some slightly hilly property and build a semi underground home with one side open.  If down south, the open side will face north.  If up north, the open side will face south. 
 
My locations are south central Alabama, SE Kentucky, western Idaho.  Will be traveling and looking around.
 
In Alabama I would still be close to my side of the family.  If SE Kentucy, about half way between both families.  Idaho is for complete bug out.  Wife grew up in Wisconsin and lived in South Dakota.  She does not want to return north, too cold and she got tired of shoveling snow.  Kentucky is a compromise.  South Alabama would be a year round growing season, good deer hunting and fishing.  Drawback to South Alabama would be hurricanes.  However a north facing home on a hillside would be easier to maintain and safe from 90% of weather conditions, especially semi-underground. 
 
Thanks for answers. 

[keith44]

I do not remember the costs of any of the septic, well, and ground loop for geothermal unit.  I can tell you that codes for inspections, and permits in KY depend on the county you are locating to.  In north western Ky, the water table can be as shallow as 20 feet, or as deep as 120 feet.  The costs to drill the well will depend on the depth of the water. Check with the county extension office about the possibility of the well on any prospective property before you buy.  The septic system is the only state required inspection.  Check with the health dept of the county where you want the property for local requirements, sizes, and designs.   As for a geo thermal unit, my parents put one in when they built their house, 20 years ago.  They use a LOT of electricity, are high maintenance, and the compressors fail about every 7 to 10 years.  The heat they put out is what I call a cold heat.  Yes the house warms up, but it feels colder than one heated with wood or gas. (even though both are heated to the same temp.) So unless you just really want that type of heat and cooling, I would recommend choosing something else.

[PowPow]

You might consider partial geo to reduce costs.
In Lower Alabama, you size the loop for winter heating, but cooling is supplemented by a small fluid cooler.
Up north, you would size it for cooling, and supplement the heating with a water heater or other supplemental heat.
Whichever is supplemental only runs a few days a year, if you size it right.
Low power rates in Lower Alabama make it hard to cost-justify geothermal.
Most geothermal I hear of in APCO territory are for making a statement rather than cost effectiveness.

[FPH]

The last well I put in cost about $20.00/ft.to drill. There was then the\e cost for the 220 pump, the expansion tank, and the various sundries. It was about 200 ft. The last septic system I put in cost $8,500.  This was a small system for an aircraft maintenance Co. and was also designed to go under asphalt.

[Ranger99]

the regulations are widely varied.
some counties here require aerobic septic.
well costs depend on geography and geo. strata.
you can probably check with the chamber
of commerce of your intended destination
and they can likely send you to the
correct source for information.

[Lloyd Smale]

varys alot depending on where you live. Around here a typical septic system will run you about 5k and a well about 3k. We used to sell ground water (heat pump) systems at work (local power company) Keep in mind a couple things about them. First there expensive and it would probably take 15 years to recoup the diffence between them and a high effeciency gas system. Second is in a survival mode you still need electricity to run it so you still need a back up like wood. Good thing about them is once you paid the price of admittion theres probably no system thats going to give you as cheap of a heating bill and theres NO SYSTEM that will even come close to providing ac for the same price.

[BUGEYE]

Can't help with costs, but I recommend the south Alabama option for living.

[Dixie Dude]

That is probably where I would be headed.  Near a national forest, Mobile about 2 hours away, as well as Dothan and Pensacola.  Soil is gulf coastal plain, sandy loamy soil, so well water would be good, and not rock to excavate to build.  Wife likes the warm weather, can't stand cold.  Air conditioning would be a problem, but not heat.  Semi-underground would have to face open end north to stay in shade all day and help with cooling.  My plans are to build small for living area, then buy some cargo containers for 1) reloading room 2) shop 3) storage for non-perishable goods and dry goods, maybe canned goods, and one container for shallow burrial as a root celler.  They are already completely dried in and waterproof, except maybe the one to be burried will need heavy coat of tar.  Hurricanes could be a problem, but north facing home would be protected from the wind.  Containers should hold up due to weight, size, and they could be tied down. 
 
 
However, I do like mountains and mountain valleys. 

[BUGEYE]

Dixie Dude, I had some good friends in Ill who built a basement to live in while they built their house on top of it.  they lived in it two years while they accumulated some more money.  well they found that heating and cooling was so cheap they just forgot the house and enlarged the basement.
about 2ft of the basement wall was above ground and they cooled the whole thing with a 7000 btu 120v ac.  living on a farm, they heated for a few dollars of chainsaw fuel in a pretty small pot-belly stove.
all of this is to let you know that everything you want is very doable..  good luck.

[keith44]

The one container you plan to bury to use as a root cellar might need re-thinking.  If you're gonna store veggies you're gonna need high humidity, and lots of ventilation


I recommend a bit of research:


http://www.amazon.com/Root-Cellaring-Natural-Storage-Vegetables/dp/0882667033/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352765639&sr=1-1&keywords=root+cellaring