I love my Trane heat pump. For my area, it works great. That is until it gets to around freezing. Then the heat strips within the unit take over and the electric bill goes way up. Newer heat pumps are very efficient compared to just a few years ago. It used to be everyone hated heat pumps, but now I think a lot of people really enjoy them. As someone else mentioned, having gas or propane backup within the unit when it gets cold is the perfect scenario.
I am seriously considering a heat pump. We mostly ran our first pellet stove last winter which was a lot easier than wood, but still took a chunk out of quality family time, and especially on an overly obligated husband that does the heavy lifting. We will likely do 75% pellet/25% wood again this coming winter too, but I am great at budgeting. We can use the pellet stove and wood stove to supplement while he's home of if he feels like it (yes, he loves it as much or more than I do, as well as when it's too cold for the heat pump, as we hit -30F two winters in a row), but most of the winter is not that cold and a heat pump cold take a load off him for many months out of the year. We have a generator for the pellet stove if needed, but the electricity outages have been way less since winter 2013. Can I use a large wall vent in our main room instead of ducting? (we do not have existing ducting for forced air or hotwater baseboards here). Should it be outside the house, or can I put it in the small non heated closet between the house and the garage? This home is a ranch on the ground, so I have several options for the main room. I LOVE the pellet stove, but I'd like to eliminate some fan noise as well if possible. thanks for any input!
Just call a dealer of this the mini splits. They will come out and do a free evaluation. They will also show how are hey can do as little or as much as you want. Some of these installs are in the ceiling.
wildwest, savemoney, is right call a dealer get an evaluation... you can get a mini split which does heat and air conditioning 18k. btu, for about 2500 up here prices have really dropped lately. The part inside looks like a metal covered bookshelf and it will be like a wood stove and window air conditioning unit.. heat the room you have it in best with no ducts. dealer should give you all specs but below negative 15 they are not cost effective to operate but then you have btu backups.. thinking of doing the same with my house..
Just be aware when the outside temp gets cold, heat pumps/mini splits switch over to resistance heating and are no more efficient than standard electric heat. The switch used to happen at about 32F, I think newer units may be a little more efficient in the cold. +1 on a mini split if you don't have duct work. The efficiency of mini splits varys quiet a bit, Mitsubishi builds some high end ones with a high end price. I considered replacing my window unit AC with one for quiet operation and efficiency. The cheaper mini splits are virtually no more efficient than my window unit.
wildwest just sent a text to one of my head aches I mean contractors.. I believe and confirming the Mitsubishi are nice but complicated and expensive to fix for parts.. I think the service tech suggested diahatsu easier to fix... I am the guy that finds a mechanic before I buy a car.... I got a pamphlet here somewhere still looking.. if memory serves me hay I'm getting older...efficiency is above 90 percent until 32 drops to 80 at 0 degrees and becomes ineffective below minus 20.. so definitely do your research if I find stuff I'll PM it to you as stated before I believe you are a FHC, treasure! but the more I hang here the quality of members of this club amaze me..
isn't a barrel 55 gallons? anyway, on topic, i've been eyeing this unit for a bit to go in my den, which is 6 stairs below my pellet stove, and thus runs off the oil pig exclusively for heat. I have central air, so i would be using this only for heat in the winter. http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-Effic...1430837752&sr=1-1&keywords=inverter+heat+pump says it produces heat down to 5 degrees, which means it's good for 95% of most days here. And of course, the oil pig is still available if needed. I think it costs me $500+ a year just to keep this room at 62 all winter. It should pay for itself pretty quickly. I have a split level home I've been considering moving my kitchen down to this level and making my main level a full living area without the kitchen/dining room taking up a lot of space. but then i remind myself that i want to leave this state and head south at some point, so investing in these big things is not a good idea (i'm already not going to get what I owe on my house anyway... probably going to short sell it or something unless the market recovers a lot between now and then...) so once again, i do nothing but dream
thanks for all the good advice on things to consider. Despite using more pellets than others here, we still use alot of electricity. Not super accurate, I ran air conditioning in the RV alot this summer, and I will likely be heating this summer since we are back in the house. And, we installed the pellet stove in September (previously 100% wood heat). Any impressions appreciated
Aww, you are too much! But who doesn't like a compliment . Thanks for sending the text, my contractors were kinda hard to get ahold of LOL.
Brian, a barrel of oil is actually 42 gallons I do not know why there are 2 separate standards. Its a common misconception like you cant burn pine in a woodstove. Another great thing about this club is the education! So it's technically 97.86 gallons I rounded for easy math.
wow, that's a LOT of electric. I have 2.5 adults in my house (my gf 'lives' with me thurs-mon and my buddy rents out my basement as a studio apt.) and we use about 450 kw/h most months on average. spring/fall is as low as 350, summer it can peak at 700 if i use a lot of ac, winter is mid/low 400 kw/h take away the hot/cold months, april and spetemeber at over 1000 are still very high. What are you running in these periods where you likely don't need heat nor air con? learn something new every day!
Edit, I should preface I am home 24/7 and keep need the home at 78*.... Last May was high from electric space heaters, our last load of wood was wet, didn't burn well and we had some very cold days despite what the average came to. I was blaming the high electricity this summer on the RV (hooked to our power pole). I ran the a/c most days, and the electric fireplace at night. Other than that, I cannot come up with anything else. There were contractors in the house most the summer with power tools, but I wouldn't think that did it? Oh, an most meals in a large convection/microwave oven. I am very curious what this May will end up for electricity. Still have electric space heaters in the bathrooms, but they are not on that much.
WoW, wild west that is a ton of electric! November 1 to January 31st I used 1229 KWH. then again I used a LOT of wood and 100 gallons heating oil. I own apartment buildings tenants pay own electric. I hear about it! first how old are fridge.. electric hot water have you checked elements? Check to see if you electric company will do an energy audit. Ours will and give free light bulbs etc... if I saw you bill I'd need an antacid 400 kw bill averages 80 a month..
$80 Double or triple that for alot of months! Fridge 2012, water heater 2013. A very old chest freezer in garage. I am peeking around on my electric company's website for audit info, thanks. Edit, quadruple too
july 2013 was BRUTALLY humid here, and i ran the ac straight for that entire month, hence the huge figure. Otherwise, normal usage when it's really bad for a day or two i'll crank it on. dec.jan 2015 they did 2 half-month readings, hence the low figures, but should be 1 bar. I have cable boxes on all the time, ups's charging all the time, my computer never gets shut off, multiple cable boxes, a randon removal system that always runs, and an electric clothes washer. hot water is on a boiler though, so others with electric dhw would pay more in electric.
I have no good reasons or excuses I remembered a few other details, and yes, we have electronics running all the time too. We had an electric wall heater put in my daughters bedroom (colder than most the house) that we kept on 65* 24/7, and we have an older chest freezer in the garage, our jet pump for the cistern is electric, and I ran two huge humidifiers all winter.
Brian same here except dryer and stove are propane. 2 large new energy star freezers in basement. I only have 100 amp box for house, barn and garage. Daughter needed a pool.. so took out electric dryer replaced with propane. for extra room in box.. kids huh Wild west not surprised 3 to 4 times higher bill usage is 3 to 4 times higher first guess would be old freezer and electric heaters look into rebates for mini splits may pay for themselves fast!
