heat pumps

[Sigarms]

Keep in mind, R410A units will have a higher discharge temperature from the regsiter than an R22 unit.

HSPF is the rating you want to look at for the heating mode for a heat pump.

Keep in mind, the older the system that needs to be replaced, you may be throwing your money out the window going with a higher SEER unit (say 18 SEER over a 13 SEER) because of duct leakage.

Duel Fuel. Using a gas furnace with the heat pump. Gas furnace acts as back up heat instead of strips. You can also overide the sytem and run the gas furnace when you want to as well. This really makes the most sense if you have an oil furnace and your A/C goes out. Replace the A/C coil and outdoor system with a heat pump instead. You'll run the heat pump more when it's not "freezing" for heat, and you should see a dramatic drop in your oil bill.

Mjarrels, I honestly don't think the heat pump is causing the humidity problems, however, if the house is too dry, you may want to look at a humidifier.

 

[kenmac]

I have a trane two an a half ton heat pump and rarely see a blue lite (electric backup) On very cold days like today, it does run alot but still blows warm air. My two biggest dislikes are the expected life of the system and it dries everything out including me.

These systems can last a long time or a short time it all depends on how you take care of the system .Taking care of your hvac system is like doing maintance on your vehicles. If you don't change oil , filters, keep trans serviced, your vehicle will have a short life . same with your hvac system, keep it serviced & it should last you a long time. I have never heard the complaint of a heat pump drying everything out. This must be happening when you are using the coal bruner

 

[Ifixcars]

We added a whole house humidifier to try to ease the dryness that our heater seems to create. It helps some if it's adjusted correctly. We heat only with a heat pump system, and it has worked just fine for us. Here in SE Pa, the temps don't go into the single digits very often so I can't comment on sub zero performance. It does run alot when it drops below say 20 degrees outside. I would say in a very cold month it costs us about 150 or so to heat 3500 sq ft. I would like to have a woodstove or corn/pellet stove someday for backup though.

 

[jwstewar]

We have a heat pump. Just put our second one in Aug. '05. First one was installed in Oct. '99. Old one still worked fine except for the fact the hail storm really did a number on it. We use the heat pump until it is 30 degrees, from there it switches over to propane. Seems to work OK for us. Now that we've been on propane the last couple of weeks, I'll be a little chilly for awhile when we do start to warm back up and switch back to the heat pump.

I talked Mom & Dad into a heat pump as '05 to replace their 30+ year old furnace and 2 window ACs. Comparing their electric bill to my aunts (their utilities were always close) mom's electric bill was $95 this month and her gas bill something like $50. My aunt's electric was $89 but her gas bill was $189 . They still complain of the chilliness of the heat pump, but then I remind them how much warmer their wallet is. I'm sure their gas bill will catch up some this month since I also have their heat pump set for 30 and then they switch over to a natural gas furnace.

 

[kenmac]

I have a friend that just bought a house (I didn't know it till afterwards) He calls me complaining that his heat in his new house doesn't feel as warm as what he had in his old house. I questioned him about the heat in his new house & he told me that he has gas hydro heat. His old house had a gas F.A.F . I told him that hydro heat is somewhat like a heat pump in that it's not the same heat as A F.A.F. Now he wants me to change out his hydro. system foe a gas F.A.F.He says his isn't warm & he hasn't had a hot bath since he moved in

 

[Bird]

Ken, I'm strictly guessing, but is F.A.F. forced air furnace? So what's hydro heat?

 

[kenmac]

Yes F.A.F. is forced air furnace. Hydro heat is simply hydronic heat Ie, water boiler or it can be a water heater set up with a water coil & a air handler .Much like a heater core in a car , I would consider a car having hydro heat. Water is circulated through a coil in a air handler & at some point the blower comes on blows across the coil & you have heat. This is the way some houses are heated .Most new homes that are being built with hydro heat (not up scale homes) are using with a gas water heater to heat the water . The down side is, this is the same hot water that provides the rest of the house hot water. SO, if the system is installed with the incorrect size W.H. , you may not have enough hot water for other uses.Bird, I hope I've explained this.

 

[Bird]

Ken, I should have known what it was. I don't know of any homes in this part of the country using hydro heat; however, it is used in some commercial buildings. In fact, I was project manager building one of the city's buildings in which we had that kind of heat.

 

[shaley]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I think sometimes heatpumps get a bad wrap because of the system designer. The "blows cold air at startup" is a common complaint. Two major factors for this are size of the duct and unit efficiency (SEER rating). The higher SEER units sense the coil temperature and slowly ramp up the blower speed. At that point all of the old cold air needs to be pushed out of the ducts. The larger the duct system the more dead air it holds. When a system gets larger than 3 tons this becomes a factor. I like to see two units (split zones) at that point vs. one big 5 ton unit. It's a matter of dollars vs. comfort. I'm in the heart of heat pump country. It was 14 deg last night and while it felt somewhat cold in the house I guess you just chalk that up to effcient living.

 

[mjarrels]

Got down to one degree above zero last night... heat pump has ran steady for about 24 hours but the electric heat strips don't come on. We have friends who live next to a cave and that is where they installed the outside unit... constant 50 degrees inside the cave.

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