Anyone using a Electric Heat Pump?

[johnnylabguy]

The old central air conditioner took a dump this spring and I'm looking to replace it. I just wondered if it would be worth the extra cost to get a heat pump for some supplemental heating alongside my woodburning furnace and fuel oil(liquid of the devil!! )furnace. I live in central OH and the temps dip below freezing starting in November so I don't know if it would be worth it.

 

[ken45]

As I understand it, at milder temperatures (say 45-50) degrees, a heat pump operates very efficiently, producing more heat than it consumes in watts. As such, at those temperatures, it is probably the most effective way of heating.

We run the heat pump on the milder days and nights. No sense trying to run a wood stove when it's 50 or 60 degrees.

I don't think there is much more expense in adding the heat pump option to an air conditioner. If that's correct, I would definitely go that way.

Ken

 

[johnnylabguy]

Thanks for the input, Ken. I'm hoping it doesn't cost much more to go this route but my HVAC guy hasn't gotten back with me yet. If its reasonable I'm going that route for the same reason you use yours- the fall and spring. When you run it solely does it raise your electric bill much? I'm just curious what it would do for my 2000 square foot house in 40-45 degree temps.

It would be nice to not worry about too much or too little a fire in these milder temperatures.

 

[ken45]

Thanks for the input, Ken. I'm hoping it doesn't cost much more to go this route but my HVAC guy hasn't gotten back with me yet. If its reasonable I'm going that route for the same reason you use yours- the fall and spring. When you run it solely does it raise your electric bill much? I'm just curious what it would do for my 2000 square foot house in 40-45 degree temps.

It would be nice to not worry about too much or too little a fire in these milder temperatures.

It's hard to tell how much it affects the electric bill since the meter reading and weather rarely coincide. We have so many ups and downs in temperatures here. Two or three days of 50-65, and then back to 20-40.

We have been using a wood furnace which doesn't do well in mild temps (but does great in cold weather). We have a new PE Summit wood stove for next winter and that should be more manageable. But I still suspect that we won't be running the wood stove on the 50-65 days.

Ken

 

[jdboy9]

I see about a 20.00 increase while running the heat pump. I run it during the spring and fall since like others said the temps vary to much for the woodburner.

 

[wkpoor]

I too have had a heat pump, in service for 12yrs now. Cheap heat! IMO. Isn't very comfortable but thats what the WB is for. It can literally run all day and hardly affect the electric bill. Well worth the extra expense in my book.

 

[oneoldbanjo]

I just built a new house and we installed a very efficient heat pump and an OWB. We live in a rural area and gas is not available - so heat options are electric, propane or oil. We run the Heat Pump when the temperature is consistanly above 40 and fire up the OWB when the temperatures get below 40. Most complaints about heat pumps being cold and drafty come from the days that builders installed units with a low SEER factor. Units with a low SEER make for a lot of cold drafty heat. We bought a unit with a variable speed fan and a SEER factor of 15 - it comes on with a really slow fan speed and tries to heat the house for about 20 minutes and bumps the fan speed up a couple of times if it needs more heat. The system works very well and our house is very comfortable.

The only issue that came from using the variable speed fan is that the OWB thermostat cannot control the fan on the furnace as it is tied into a computer and does not accept a simple "ON" signal from a seperate thermostat. When we use the OWB we have to manually put the fan in the "ON" position for the furnace and we have a Zone Valve that controls the water flow to the coil in the furnace - when we need heat the Zone Valve routes the hot water to the furnace and bypasses the coil when we don't need heat. Our fan runs at a very low speed all the time and it is fine with us as it keeps the temperature in the house very consistent and there are no hot or cold areas.

 

[Engineeredlawns]

It should not add very much to the cost.
Heat pumps work well down to about 25 degrees.
Get the highest rated seer that you can, more efficient.

 

[dakotatrees]

I built our house 5 years ago and put a heat pump in and a very high efficiency propane furnace. The system automatically switches from the heat pump to the LP furnace when the temp drops below 35 F. I've been very happy with it. It seems to keep the new, larger house cool in the summer using a lot less electricity than the central air unit at my last house (which was only 7 years old when I sold it).

One reason I decided to go with it is that I'm in a very rural area and my electric is supplied via a cooperative. By installing a heat pump, the co-op lets me run all electricity used for heating/cooling through a separate meter that is charged at about half the normal rate. They also gave me a one time rebate for using a heat pump and I didn't even buy it through them. Be sure to check with your electric company to see if they will give you any incentives for using one.

 

[mtfallsmikey]

Have a pro in your area look at your setup, especially ductwork. Heat pumps generally need larger ductwork/more return than straight central air...get the highest SEER rated unit you can afford. discharge air temp without electric backup heat will be 90-110 degrees,dependant on ooutdoor temp. The lower the outdoor temps, the lower the BTU rating it will put out.

 

[johnnylabguy]

Well, I lucked out. My HVAC guy stopped out and found a loose connector to fix my old central air unit! However the more I research and read these postings I feel like I might get a heat pump before it bites the dust for good.
I do get a 2 cent per kwH rate reduction from my electric co-op as well as a $6 a month credit so it is enticing.

He said they are selling alot of those and electric furnaces. My guess is in 5-10 years everyone will be using electric over fossil fuel. We can make more electricity. Thank God I burn wood! For now I'm going to spend the money on a chainsaw!

 

[johnnylabguy]

OK, so I'm not so lucky!

The old central air is definately on its last leg. It threw the breaker the other day and later my wife saw some sparks shooting out of the outdoor unit!
Needless to say, we haven't been using the A/C anymore.

So... back to the heatpump idea. I was wondering if you guys that have a woodburning furnace use it with a heat pump. I'm wanting the heatpump to run when we're at work for 9 hours and the wood furnace will die out but I don't want it to run while the wood furnace is in use. Is it just as simple as flipping the switch on the thermostat? I'm not sure that will work because my central furnace(or heat pump blower) runs when my wood burner fans kick on. I've got a HotBlast 1557 (US stove) if thats any help.Thanks for any help.

 

[jjett84724]

I don't know about your paticular application. We have the wood stove and the heat pump. It gets down below zero here during the winter. We don't run the heat pump during the winter. We run the wood burning stove. When we built the house, I had the HVAC guy put and air inlet above the wood stove. As soon as the stove gets hot, I turn on the fan and it seems to heat the rest of the house fine.

 

[ken45]

I was wondering if you guys that have a woodburning furnace use it with a heat pump. I'm wanting the heatpump to run when we're at work for 9 hours and the wood furnace will die out but I don't want it to run while the wood furnace is in use.

Just set the heatpump thermostat at 65 or so. If the wood furnace dies out, the heat pump will come on automatically. Otherwise it will stay off.

Ken

 

[johnnylabguy]

Hey guys,
Thanks for the feedback. I was hoping I could just set the thermostat and the heat pump would kick in but I have no experience with heat pumps so thats good to know. I also found out my electric co-op gives a $300 dollar rebate if you put in a heat pump with a separate meter so that will help justify the extra $1000 cost more than just replacing the central air unit. But I have to admit that I think after this winter electric rates are going to follow the high fuel prices from everyone else going the electric route,too. We'll see, I guess. In the meantime, I'll just keep stockpiling the wood!

 

[ken45]

The heat pump is also the best heat source on milder days. No sense burning wood on a 55-65 degree day. Especially in a furnace, that's a good way to build up cresosote. Save your wood for the cold weather.

Ken