A California Program Is Bringing Down the Cost of Heat Pumps by Buying Bulk
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Re: A California Program Is Bringing Down the Cost of Heat Pumps by Buying Bulk
#2I'm always amazed at how much these costs in the US. Wild prices even for a Norwegian.
We have a two-story home half his size, but one minisplit upstairs and one downstairs would be $3-4000 installed, combined, and that's upper or top-end models.
The ones I got would easily handle a house of his size.
Re: A California Program Is Bringing Down the Cost of Heat Pumps by Buying Bulk
#3Why can't we do this for lumber. And drywall. And plumbing. And wires.
Re: A California Program Is Bringing Down the Cost of Heat Pumps by Buying Bulk
#4I'm always amazed at how much these costs in the US. Wild prices even for a Norwegian. We have a two-story home half his size, but one minisplit upstairs and one downstairs would be $3-4000 installed, combined, and that's upper or top-end models. The ones I got would easily handle a house of his size.
If there's ductwork, it's something being installed into the building that has to pass inspections. It's not just one or two holes in the walls that need to be sealed.
Re: A California Program Is Bringing Down the Cost of Heat Pumps by Buying Bulk
#5Heat pumps are probably vastly under-installed in the southern part of the US because natural gas has been cheap and plentiful. If you live where natural gas isn't available your fuel option is propane. Propane tracks the price of gasoline, perhaps slightly lower in my experience.
Here in Texas, electricity is only about $0.11/KWH so heat pumps work out like this:
Heat Pump 5.0 COP : $6.50 per MMBtu Natural Gas : $12 - $15 per MMBtu Propane at $3.00 / gallon : $32 per MMBtu
The unfortunate characteristic of heat pumps is that they become less efficient the more you need them, i.e. cold weather, but if weather is generally above freezing, heat pumps are close to their spec range that is based on 47F outdoor temperature.
A buried heat exchanger or a water well makes it a weather-proof geothermal system- this seems like the ideal; if you also need air conditioning it will make your cooling more efficient too.
Re: A California Program Is Bringing Down the Cost of Heat Pumps by Buying Bulk
#6I'm always amazed at how much these costs in the US. Wild prices even for a Norwegian. We have a two-story home half his size, but one minisplit upstairs and one downstairs would be $3-4000 installed, combined, and that's upper or top-end models. The ones I got would easily handle a house of his size.
If there's ductwork, it's something being installed into the building that has to pass inspections. It's not just one or two holes in the walls that need to be sealed.
But the article said he used existing ductwork, and yet it ended up at $14k.
The new heat pump system cost roughly $14,500 and provides heating and cooling via ductwork that was already in place.
Re: A California Program Is Bringing Down the Cost of Heat Pumps by Buying Bulk
#7Why can't we do this for lumber. And drywall. And plumbing. And wires.
Dimensional lumber, gypsum board, plumbing pipe, and electrical conductors are commodities. Heat pumps are not.
There’s no need to subsidize commodity items, there’s plenty of competition to keep prices reasonable barring any massive supply/demand shifts.
Re: A California Program Is Bringing Down the Cost of Heat Pumps by Buying Bulk
#8a bit rich since california is probabaly a major reason the systems are expensive to begin with.
Re: A California Program Is Bringing Down the Cost of Heat Pumps by Buying Bulk
#9What actually happened [probably], in California:
A heatpump salesman has a buddy that is a government official. Has outdated models he needs to liquidate. Salesman guy needs to be richer. Government official can't take the money directly, but sure would like to fly on salesman guys' private jet when they go golfing. Meanwhile government official guy goes and buys a bunch of Salesman company stock and profits explode.
Heatpumps should absolutely be the primary choice in the correct climates. But these deals are rarely good or efficient for a taxpayer.
Re: A California Program Is Bringing Down the Cost of Heat Pumps by Buying Bulk
#10Heat pumps are probably vastly under-installed in the southern part of the US because natural gas has been cheap and plentiful. If you live where natural gas isn't available your fuel option is propane. Propane tracks the price of gasoline, perhaps slightly lower in my experience. Here in Texas, electricity is only about $0.11/KWH so heat pumps work out like this: Heat Pump 5.0 COP : $6.50 per MMBtu Natural Gas : $12…
California PG&E charges an average of $0.45/kWh. They know EVs are going to increase demand. They killed NEM1 and NEM2 to prevent folks from installing solar, and those with solar have to pay a monthly fee for the privilege of being connected. Heat pump my a$$.