PRIMER on Dual Fuel Heating and Cooling Systems

[dan sw fl]

EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) offers a concise (639 Kb) six-page Primer on Dual Fuel Heating and Coooling Systems.

You may find this PDF attachment a convenient resource.

[pecmsg]

Interesting article.

Thank You Dan

[motoguy128]

That about sums it all up pretty well. It's the reason I'm looking at a dual fuel set-up to replace a 20 year old A/C unit and 14 year old furnace.

I have one question on this topic. With a dual fuel system, should you size the heat pump for the cooling load or the heating load? I'm on the border of zone 2 & 3. I think with a heat pump sized for my cooling load, I would be able to reach the economical balance point before the thermal balance point. My house is too small to make a 2 stage heat pump economical. I'm hoping I can at least afford an Infinity 80% Furnace. A 90% unit isn't economical for a dual fuel set-up with my size house.
I'm still waiting on a couple quotes to get a better feel for pricing form the local HVAC contractors. I wish they could just give me an equipment price list, then I can pick the most economical solution myself. I ran 18 different combinations of furnaces A/C Heat Pumps between Carrier and Trane and some of the premium systems might be economical, but I'm taking WAG's at the pricing.