I am looking for assistance with installing a Geothermal Heatpump for heating and cooling a 3000 sq ft single story building on a slab located in Northern NJ. The building is being renovated for use as a professional office and I will make it as thermally efficient as possible. The building is currently heated using an electric furnace and I certainly want to get rid of this system due to its age and cost of operation. There is ducting available in the attic. The building is currently not serviced by a natural gas connection although it can be piped since the neighborhood has a natural gas. I don't know how much that will cost. The option that I want to explore is a Geothermal heatpump with a vertical closed loop. Are there any particular brand of equipment that are superior and will do its job of heating and cooling? How much should I budget for a project like this? Should I select a contractor and go with the equipment he sells or the other way round - selecting the equipment or brand and then choosing a contractor recommended by the equipment supplier. I spoke to one contractor who installs Water Furnace brand of equipment. The preliminary estimates that he gave me was shocking. His rough etimate is $12K per ton of cooling and in his opinion I would need a 5 or 6 ton system. This estimates almost kills the project right from the get go. What kind of cost is involved for the equipment and for the vertical boring that need to be done? I am assuming that those two are the major costs. If it costs so much, I am not sure how Geothermal systems are gaining ground. Any help or direction will be greatly appreciated.

I live in Keizer, Oregon (Willamette Valley) in a 2,000 sq.ft. single story home. I had a Ruud UPQL-036JAZ heat pump installed in December 2010. In heat mode, the system defaults to the heat pump when the outside temperature is 35 or above (and to the electric furnace below that temp). For the past two winters, I've noticed that after the house cools down to the designated night-time (sleeping) temperature and the outside temperature is 35 or above, the HP cycles through the following pattern: it runs for about five minutes, shuts off for about 15 minutes, then runs again for five minutes, off for 15, etc (and during these cycles I don't feel any air coming from the registers). Is this normal? Thanks, Dave