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If you have new construction with a really tight thermal envelope, you can use a heat pump in southern New England. The new ones work as heat pumps to 0F and use resistive heat below that. On a 1985 townhouse, a new replacement heat pump for the HVAC system is probably more efficient than a gas furnace on the shoulder seasons.
Thank you for the information. I will keep that in mind if I buy something in the future. Mostplaces in Farmington Woods were built in the 1970's and will need systems replaced.
[quote=GeoffD;58223426]If you have new construction with a really tight thermal envelope, you can use a heat pump in southern New England. The new ones work as heat pumps to 0F and use resistive heat below that. On a 1985 townhouse, a new replacement heat pump for the HVAC system is probably more efficient than a gas furnace on the shoulder
I heat and cool my entire house with 2 heat pumps. 20 years ago they didn't work well in cold weather but they have come a long way since then. My units can provide 100% heating capacity down to -13 and they shut off at -22.
If you have new construction with a really tight thermal envelope, you can use a heat pump in southern New England. The new ones work as heat pumps to 0F and use resistive heat below that. On a 1985 townhouse, a new replacement heat pump for the HVAC system is probably more efficient than a gas furnace on the shoulder
I heat and cool my entire house with 2 heat pumps. 20 years ago they didn't work well in cold weather but they have come a long way since then. My units can provide 100% heating capacity down to -13 and they shut off at -22.
Has anyone had experience with a hybrid heat pump, that uses a gas furnace instead of the resistive heat below the cutoff point? Do they use the same ductwork? I expect they are more expensive to install. However, I prefer the warmer air from a gas furnace.
Perhaps it would have cost to much to add ducting for heat in the basement. Or the concrete floors are cold under the flooring. [url]https://www.happycow.net/forum/vegetarian/are-people-like-me-frowned-upon/4981[/url]
Has anyone had experience with a hybrid heat pump, that uses a gas furnace instead of the resistive heat below the cutoff point? Do they use the same ductwork? I expect they are more expensive to install. However, I prefer the warmer air from a gas furnace.
Yes, we installed a heat pump (and solar panels) last spring/summer. It's great. Our roof-mounted panels provided for 99.5% of our electrical needs for the whole year (so YES, CT definitely gets enough sun to make solar panels worth it). We previous had no central air so it's awesome that it doubles for both A/C and heat.
As for the heat pump, we simply had the heating company install a thermostat this is capable of switching our heat over to the old oil furnace if it gets too cold and the heat pump is struggling (usually when it's getting to the teens and below). It is run through the same ducting. Last winter we only used about 2/3rds of a tank of oil! Granted it was a pretty mild winter, but that was also with our system being a bit off on it's algorithms for switching heat sources (hopefully now remedied).
We were impressed how cheap the whole system was. If you already have ducting in place it's really not THAT expensive.
Resurrecting this thread as we are in the process of getting quotes for a/c. We live in a 1983 colonial with NO ductwork so were thinking ductless mini splits were our best/cheapest option. We also are living on borrowed time with the original gas furnace. Yesterday our HVAC company owner came and looked at our setup, and told my husband that he thinks a whole house heat pump with ductwork is our best option for heat and a/c. First guesstimate is $35-$40K, but right now there are a ton of rebates as the government is eager to have people get away from fossil fuels for home heating.
I'm concerned that even with advances, the heat pump alone might not warm the house to our level of comfort on the coldest (sub zero) days. I'm intrigued by the idea of a dual system, keeping our existing furnace and adding the ductwork/heat pump just as Davemess10 did a few years ago. We do have solar panels on our roof but don't produce 100% of our current electricity.
Had anyone installed a heat pump or hybrid system lately?
I have mini-splits and oil. Oil came with house, but there was no central air. We installed the splits primarily for AC three years ago, but I use them to heat house down to about 45 degrees. They are amazing during shoulder season.
At least for mine, efficiency plummets as the average temp approaches 40. Last November, we used 712kwh, heat included, with an average temp of 55. December averaged 40.3 and it jumped to 1665 kwh. At that point, we started using a blend of the splits and the oil (splits upstairs, oil downstairs.) During cold snaps, I go 100% oil. I filled the oil tank with 100 gallons in February and then filled from pretty low when the prices dropped in May. That also includes my hot water, which runs off the boiler (and we go through a lot of that!)
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