Heat Pump question...

[blueriver]

Maybe just maybe the thermostat needs replacing? I got a different one off ebay and it may be my imagination seems to be better. R4 is important ... I blew in insulation in every attic nook and crannie I could find, replaced some bad windows and two doors ... at least I feel better about all of it and my electric bill went down ... Speaking of that this month the house and the barn (seperate meters) just at $109 ... my highest this summer was $205 ... better than previous years.

 

[Pilot]

I have a HP with propane backup and the propane comes on when it is less than 30 outside. It doesn't matter what the inside temp is or how high it needs to go, it only goes to propane when it's below 30 outside.

 

[bucktaker]

I have the HP with propane back up i heat 3200sf on 400 gal of propane and a level electric bill of 180.00

We have a thermostat and use setbacks. The program is m-f
530am-9am 66 9am-3pm 60 3-5pm 66 5-10pm 68 10pm-530 am 62

Our system rarely runs at night which is nice since I hear the outside unit run. We do get a blast of propane heat in the morning on the kick between 62-66 if its below 32 outside. Kinda nice for the showers to have real heat.
my experience is if the winter weather is mild we get good savings in less propane use but if its really nasty out we stay warm with gas heat. In times its below zero I turn the heat pump off and run straight backup/emergency heat.

 

[grsthegreat]

Our heat pump has drastically reduced our winter heating bills . Then again,this year is the first year Ive been home during the days so i can keep the firebox stocked and the heater hasn't even been turned on this season.

So heat pump or not wont be an issue this year.

 

[ustmd]

Sounds like you have a problem with the heat pump.

We have had our HP for 10 years supporting ~1500 sq ft. For heat, the temp is set to 68 during the day, 55 at night. With outside temps in the 40s to 30s, it runs maybe 40-50% of the time-rarely with the electric back up.

For the attic space, I highly recommend a ductless Mini-Split system. I put a home office in our attic 2 years ago (200 sq ft) and had a Mr. Slim ductless system put in (Seer rating 26 :thumbsup. I love it. Keeps me cool during the summer and warm in the winter. I really didn;t notice a major chane to the electric bill. When the main heat pump goes, I am considering converting the entire house to the Ductless system.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Sounds like you have a problem with the heat pump.

We have had our HP for 10 years supporting ~1500 sq ft. For heat, the temp is set to 68 during the day, 55 at night. With outside temps in the 40s to 30s, it runs maybe 40-50% of the time-rarely with the electric back up.

For the attic space, I highly recommend a ductless Mini-Split system. I put a home office in our attic 2 years ago (200 sq ft) and had a Mr. Slim ductless system put in (Seer rating 26 :thumbsup. I love it. Keeps me cool during the summer and warm in the winter. I really didn;t notice a major chane to the electric bill. When the main heat pump goes, I am considering converting the entire house to the Ductless system.

USTMD,

The attic is 840 square feet, and it had a dormer that has issues I am thinking of expanding, so maybe more.

I am putting in a dorm style large bedroom, a family room, and a powder room (if I can swing the plumbing connections).

I need to learn more about this ductless system.

David

 

[MossflowerWoods]

Maybe just maybe the thermostat needs replacing? I got a different one off ebay and it may be my imagination seems to be better. R4 is important ... I blew in insulation in every attic nook and crannie I could find, replaced some bad windows and two doors ... at least I feel better about all of it and my electric bill went down ... Speaking of that this month the house and the barn (seperate meters) just at $109 ... my highest this summer was $205 ... better than previous years.

I know the house has not got the best insulation...

I will insulate the attic VERY well when I finish it...

David

 

[MossflowerWoods]

So yesterday I adjusted the thermostat settings.

I raised the "sleep" setting to 64, and I lowered the morning and evening to 67, and lowered the day to 66. That is 2 degrees up for night, and 1 down for the rest of the day.

The furnace is right next to our bedroom and my Submarine trained ears typically wake me up for unfamiliar noises, so I did not hear it last night.

Worst part of all this is it is still too warm at night. My wife is loving the comforter I put on the bed last night, and I'm on the edge under a sheet with the comforter OFF me and piled up between us.

David

 

[Redneck in training]

Sounds like you have a problem with the heat pump.
We have had our HP for 10 years supporting ~1500 sq ft. For heat, the temp is set to 68 during the day, 55 at night. With outside temps in the 40s to 30s, it runs maybe 40-50% of the time-rarely with the electric back up.

For the attic space, I highly recommend a ductless Mini-Split system. I put a home office in our attic 2 years ago (200 sq ft) and had a Mr. Slim ductless system put in (Seer rating 26 :thumbsup. I love it. Keeps me cool during the summer and warm in the winter. I really didn;t notice a major chane to the electric bill. When the main heat pump goes, I am considering converting the entire house to the Ductless system.

One more vote for split unit.
Not all heat pumps are created equal. I just put new split system to heat/cool a guest room and my office in the shop. According to my research Mitsubishi and Fujitsu have the best technology at this time. I selected Fujitsu (I think it is 1 ton) with two air handlers. SEER is only 16.4 but the heat will work down to 4F. The small single air handler units have SEER about 24. Our unit was 4200 installed. The unit itself was 2800. If I would know what I know now I would install everything by myself and let the Heating company connect the tubing only. Another great thing about the split is you can hardly hear it. It is super quiet.

 

[LD1]

I too vote to have a competent HVAC guy look at it. But it seems there could be a number of reasons causing your problems. But I agree that your heat pump isnt working the most efficently your your routeine.

As others said, maybe it is just the programming in the thermostat??? That when it sees a big temp gap, it kicks on aux. heat. My t-stat is an old analog one. It could care less the diff. It could be 65 inside and I crank it to 85, and still no aux heat.

But again, a competent HVAC guy could advise better in this situation, and maybe even recomend a t-stat that will do what you want. But with my set-up, there are only TWO things that can make the aux heat come on. 1. Im I MANUALLY select it, or 2. IF the outside temp is below the set-point on the unit. Which is something else to look into there. Because most HVAC guys set them in the upper 30's. Mine was @ 38 when I moved in:confused2: And through trial and error + calculations, I have found it to be more efficient than my propane B/U all the way down to 17.

And to adress the issues on B/U heat...IF you already have electric strips, Propane isnt going to save you much. UNLESS propane is REALLY cheap in your area and Electric is really expensive. EX:

Propane is 91000BTU/gallon. And @ 90%eff, that is 81,900BTU. @ MY current price of 2.16/gal, that is ~38,000 BTU for every dollar.

Electric is 3.41BTU/watt. My rates are .10/KWH. SO $1 would buy me 10,000W, or 34,100 BTU. Not much difference.

You can do the calculations for your areas prices, but in my area, it would take an awfually long time to re-coup the cost of a propane furnace.

And for comparison, a typical HP should be about 3x more eff than electric. So $1 should buy you ~100,000 BTU's out of your heat pump.