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It depends.
How old is the Ducane furnace? If its fairly old, its not that great of an idea to add a 2019/2020 heat pump ac unit. The Ducane furnace would be used as Emergency heat mode.
Talk to a HVAC contractor and see what they say. The best solution would be to get a new multi stage, multi speed heat pump system.
It depends.
How old is the Ducane furnace? If its fairly old, its not that great of an idea to add a 2019/2020 heat pump ac unit. The Ducane furnace would be used as Emergency heat mode.
Talk to a HVAC contractor and see what they say. The best solution would be to get a new multi stage, multi speed heat pump system.
The furnace was installed in 1995, old as in the pilot light does not have electronic ignition.
Is there such a thing as a dual-fuel gas pack that uses gas for Stage 2 or later?
I have a package unit dual fuel heat pump with natural gas. Properly sized, you shouldn't need a separate furnace. Do the 2 units share the same duct work now? This could be a fairly simple changeover if there's not a lot of duct modification involved.
I have a package unit dual fuel heat pump with natural gas. Properly sized, you shouldn't need a separate furnace. Do the 2 units share the same duct work now? This could be a fairly simple changeover if there's not a lot of duct modification involved.
They do. All ducts are in the attic. We have a single air return going back to the air handler and furnace.
I'd be okay with not having the separate fire haz- I mean... old gas furnace if I could get a dual fuel. I'll price some units.
Dealing w/ a 2100 SF ranch, built in 1963. Brick. Insulation has not been upgraded, from what I can tell.
The furnace was installed in 1995, old as in the pilot light does not have electronic ignition.
Is there such a thing as a dual-fuel gas pack that uses gas for Stage 2 or later?
Close. A dual fuel unit runs in HP mode until a particular break point is met, and then it switches over to the furnace. The break point is either based on temperature only (old school) or temperature combined with the costs for gas vs electricity.
Mine runs the HP down to about 10-15F before kicking over to gas and that is decided by my cost for propane which I update every time I purchase. The gas furnace has two stages of heat which kick in based on demand from the zones.
The best solution would be to get a new multi stage, multi speed heat pump system.
Adding another fuel source will be expensive in itself; plus additional ducting, etc., etc.
One thing people tend to overlook when it comes to consumption of fuels (especially in the winter months)- it's not just the heating. It's lighting and other appliances because we have shorter daylight hours and we spend more time indoors.
As long as you use two thermostats, and just set them mildly far apart, you will achieve the desired operation. For example, say you want to set the heat to 74. Set the heat pump to 74. Depending on the brand, you can change the cut-in temperature for the auxiliary coils (i.e. set it to when the outdoor temp is 0/10/30 degrees, depending on system). However, set the natural gas furnace thermostat to 70. If the heat pump compressor and the heat pump aux strips can't keep up, the furnace will kick on once the house hits 70 degrees.
I can't picture a scenario where both the compressor and the aux strips can't keep up, unless you purposely undersize the strips (which is fine in this case). If you have cheap electric though I would just go bigger on the heat pump compressor and as long as it's a low-ambient unit you'll probably never even need the aux strips, let alone the furnace.
I have heat pumps in my house as my sole source of heat, and I have no aux strips or backup furnace. I did oversize the heat pumps though to be safe, which added very little cost to the overall system.
1995 Ducane is well past its expected life. Just install a new heat pump system. The energy savings from a 1995 gas furnace will pay for the new heat pump in less than 10 years.
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