41–50 of 83 posts
Is there a way to get your house (currently with hydronic gas heat) retrofitted for heat pumps that doesn’t result in either a ton of demo or ugly lines all over the exterior? I tried to switch over last year only to find the savings were not that great in my climate, and that it would have an unacceptable aesthetic cost.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess this depends on where you locate the heat pump. On mine, the insulated pipe and mains connection are within two feet of the building.
Is yours air-to-air?
As someone who switched to a heat pump recently, you should know "your mileage may vary." Don't confuse physical efficiency for cost efficiency. In many places, natural gas is still more cost efficient, even if it isn't as efficient in terms of physics.
As someone who switched to a heat pump recently, you should know "your mileage may vary." Don't confuse physical efficiency for cost efficiency. In many places, natural gas is still more cost efficient, even if it isn't as efficient in terms of physics.
Natural gas is dirt cheap in most of the U.S., so it does make it hard for heat pumps to compete, especially if electricity is expensive. Just checked my most recent gas bill and I only paid $1.09/therm (plus 7% sales tax and $10 fixed fee). OTOH if you’re heating with propane or fuel oil, heat pumps are probably a good alternative.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is yours air-to-air?
It is -- it looks just like an air conditioner plopped on a pad. There's two lines connected to it and leading into the house; one is an insulated copper pipe, and the other is the mains power connected to an electrical disconnect box.
Or do you have existing ductwork (which a house with hydronic gas heat probably does not have, or else they'd probably not be asking the question)?
As someone who switched to a heat pump recently, you should know "your mileage may vary." Don't confuse physical efficiency for cost efficiency. In many places, natural gas is still more cost efficient, even if it isn't as efficient in terms of physics.
Natural gas is dirt cheap in most of the U.S., so it does make it hard for heat pumps to compete, especially if electricity is expensive. Just checked my most recent gas bill and I only paid $1.09/therm (plus 7% sales tax and $10 fixed fee). OTOH if you’re heating with propane or fuel oil, heat pumps are probably a good alternative.
The best whole house air-source heat pumps had a SEER2 of 18.5, or a COP of just under 5.0. I need a COP of over 5 to just break even in terms of cost efficiency. So a heat pump would actually cost me more on an ongoing basis. And the price for a heat pump installation was $10k more than a furnace/AC.
I just couldn't do it. To pay more up front and then ongoing was just too much. If you showed me even a super long range projection of saving money, I would have been down for it, but it just was not there.
If I can get solar on my house it may make sense, I will cross that bridge in a few years as my roof is almost end of life, but that has its own headaches as I have limited space (brownstone, flat roof), and am in a historic district.
Next go around, as heat pump tech improves and hopefully gets cheaper, it will probably make sense, but for me right now, it just didn't work.
As someone who switched to a heat pump recently, you should know "your mileage may vary." Don't confuse physical efficiency for cost efficiency. In many places, natural gas is still more cost efficient, even if it isn't as efficient in terms of physics.
For how long is gas likely to be cheaper? It’s generally more scarce right? Does anyone have predictions on US price over the next few decades?
> But heat pump manufacturers say they now have the technology to heat homes just as efficiently in bitter cold as they do in milder winter temperatures. This claim defies thermodynamics (and I expect better from IEEE). Heat pumps are bound to be less efficient as the spread between inside and outside temperature grows. (They might be just as effective or they might be just as efficient as current heat pump tech , bu…
So if they can operate at the same percentage efficiency away from ideal, the extra difference from the actual source/sink temperature could be very minimal right?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is -- it looks just like an air conditioner plopped on a pad. There's two lines connected to it and leading into the house; one is an insulated copper pipe, and the other is the mains power connected to an electrical disconnect box.
Did they retrofit the linesets through the walls to the interior units? Or do you have existing ductwork (which a house with hydronic gas heat probably does not have, or else they'd probably not be asking the question)?
I understand the situation -- I had searched to see if hydronic gas heating used ducts, and it can but it seems that this is not common.
Their issue is not an issue of heat pumps themselves, but rather the lack of an air handler.