Heat pumps

[akers]

Re: Heat pumps

I recently had to change my heat pump due to some issues with it and I am glad I had home insurance which covered the cost of replacement. It can be quite expensive to replace these systems, and without home insurance, it would have been a big financial burden. I contacted Choice Home Warranty customer service and decided to buy it. I recommend that homeowners consider adding HVAC coverage to their home insurance policy, as it can save you a lot of money in the long run. Plus, having a well-functioning heating and cooling system is crucial for the comfort and safety of your family, especially during extreme weather conditions.

[George Jung]

Re: Heat pumps

Many HWTs have an anode that can be replaced.

This may have been mentioned somewhere in this thread, but one of the problems with heat pumps in the past was the small temperature differential, so it felt like they were blowing cold air. They were raising the air temp in the room by a couple degrees, but the moving air was removing the warmer laminar layer against your skin.

This. I suspect that a check of your anode, if seeing rapid tank deterioration, will show it's gone. I replace ours about every 4 yrs. It's an easy fix.

[mike9199]

Need to replace our heat pump these days and have no idea which one to choose.

[NeBek]

Need to replace our heat pump these days and have no idea which one to choose.

Are you sure it can't be fixed? When our heat pump broke down last spring, I thought that the replacement was the only way out. But I addressed the Sacramento residential hvac services https://alphamechanicals.com/hvac-residential/ and after the examination, they said that they could repair the heat. I was shocked as usually, these services say everything to make you pay more. We didn't face any issues during the previous cold season, so no regrets.

[ERGR]

We have a heat pump that draws the heat from the ground and not the air. The cold circuit consists of a polyethylene pipe in a loop in a 200 m deep hole. Up comes cooling fluid at about 5C and down goes the cooling fluid a few degrees colder. The heat pump transfers the heat from the cold circuit to the warm circuit (up to 40C) that flows through the radiators. It also heats our warm water to slightly more than 50C.
The first pump lasted for about 20 years and we're now on the second pump. The hole doesn't wear, so the new pump was connected to the existing cold circuit. The pump is rated for an output of 9 kW so we have to top it up during the coldest winter days.
Sucking heat from a hole in the ground works very well in solid rock; ground water carries the heat to the pipe. It's mostly surface heat that trickles down, more than the heat from the earth core. If the rock is too far below the surface (>20 m is a guess) the drilling becomes expensive and eventually it's more economical to suck the heat from the atmosphere. The advantages with a hole in the ground is that we don't need any noisy outdoors heat exchanger and it works well regardless of outdoor temperatur.
/Erik

[MushCreek]

I looked into going with a ground-source heat pump, but I wouldn't live long enough for it to pay off.

[Gerarddm]

I was in the ground-source heat pump business as a regional rep for years. Superb technology. You already own all the energy you'll ever need to heat, cool, and provide domestic hot water. It's literally 6' down under your feet. About twice as efficient as air source heat pumps.

[David G]

I looked into going with a ground-source heat pump, but I wouldn't live long enough for it to pay off.

That was what we found also. Much preferable, but mucho expensive. Beyond our budget, and a long time before you broke even.

[MushCreek]

Our HVAC cost is about $400 a year. If it was half that, it would still take 60 years to pay off the $12K difference in price between a mini-split and a ground-source system.

[Gerarddm]

" Breaking even" regarding geothermal heat pumps was always a straw man. The issue was and still is, what's the ROI? If it takes 12 years to pay back the investment, for example, that's 7% annually, a hella great investment monetarily, not to mention the increase in value of your property and the increased comfort. Now, if your reality is much like MushCreeks, certainly the numbers don't add up. But everything else does.

A Mercedes and a Chevrolet will both get you from A to B. So why spend double the money ( or more ) on a Mercedes? Intangible reasons. A geothermal heat pump is a Mercedes that gets 70 miles to the gallon.

[stromborg]

Re: Heat pumps

I put a lot of study into all of this when designing our house. I built it out of ICF (Insulated Concrete Forms). The house is very tight and well insulated. As a result, our cooling load during peak summer heat (in South Carolina) is only 9,000 BTU, or 3/4 ton. Our max heating load is 12K BTU. We heat and cool the entire 1400 square foot house with a single 12K mini-split. HVAC costs are about $400 a YEAR for us. In addition to a very energy-efficient structure, I put a lot of thought into siting the house for better efficiency. Since cooling is our bigger demand year-round, I put the garage on the west side of the house to shield it from hot afternoon sun, and built a deep porch facing south to shield that side of the house. I also used very good windows, and detailed the heck out of potential air leaks, such as ceiling fixtures. There's 18" of blown cellulose in the attic.

Sounds like your research and efforts really paid off. Well done. When I was building my house I focused on sealing it up as much as possible including using construction adhesive on all the sheathing. When the fellow who tests for air exchange came out we more than passed on the first try which was pretty gratifying. People ask me what is the best thing about being in a new house, I tell them it is laying in bed on a windy night and not feeling that wind blow across my chest.

I'll be expanding and re-siding shop soon, classic 2x4 construction with drywall and fiberglass insulation, about 1000 square feet total and there is a definite spike in my power bill when the oil-filled radiators get turned on in the winter (cold and damp for half the year here, maintaining the shops at a consistent 60-ish keeps the tools happy). Probably end up putting 2" foam over the sheathing and retro-fitting a heat pump system. Trying to get it all set up right before I retire.

[MushCreek]

I went all out. I even sealed up the ceiling electrical boxes for the ceiling fans, and built insulated boxes over all of the can lights. Those so-called 'air tight insulation contact' cans are horrible. I went up in the attic (before insulating) and could see all sorts of light shining through them. As you pointed out, there are other benefits besides saving energy. Our house is comfortable everywhere, whether in the middle of a room, or right next to a window. No drafts anywhere.

[johnwill]

I just had my 20 year old central AC system replaced with a 5 ton Samsung Hylex heat pump. The existing propane central heat was retained as backup heat instead of electric strips. The old unit was reaching the end of life, so I had it replaced at my convenience rather than waiting for total failure. By planning ahead, the installation time was only six hours, a blessing in a North Texas summer. All of the existing wiring, tubing, ducting, interior unit, and refrigerant was retained, for a considerable savings. Also had a Honeywell wifi thermostat installed. There is a $2000 federal tax credit to help with the cost.

I can't begin to explain why, but for the same comfort as the old system, I can set the coolng temperature about 4 or 5 degrees F higher.(verified by other thermometers). Maybe it dehumidifies better. The unit is supposed to heat down to -5 deg F, so I should not have to use the backup heat very often.