heat pump

[plarian]

I got a Fujitsu minisplit heat pump last summer. I meant it for AC.
But I was startled to find the thing is going to pay for itself quickly in savings on my heating bills!!!
I live in NY state. It gets cold here in the winter. It's gotten down to -15 F or so, and it fairly often gets down to 10 F. I have a small house.
And in one month last winter, I saved $180 over last year's energy bill for that month!!! I've been using my forced air gas heat now and then, when I want to have heat going to the downstairs rather than just upstairs.
Apparently it's warm enough, enough of the time, even in the winter, that the heat pump saves me a lot of money!
I'm amazed and wondering if it would make sense to replace my forced air gas furnace, which is old and going to keel over someday, with some kind of heat pump with electric backup.
Laura

[chilliwilly]

Electric backup would be more staight forward, ie no safety checks like the gas. But gas is cheaper and I beleive will be cheaper for the next 10 years.

Consider a ground source heat pump if you do upgrade, it tends not to be as cold deep in the ground as it is above ground. This maintains that the refrigerant will boil and compress when its cold outside (in theory). I have heard good things about the ground source systems if they're installed properly.

[crmont]

I got a Fujitsu minisplit heat pump last summer. I meant it for AC.
But I was startled to find the thing is going to pay for itself quickly in savings on my heating bills!!!
I live in NY state. It gets cold here in the winter. It's gotten down to -15 F or so, and it fairly often gets down to 10 F. I have a small house.
And in one month last winter, I saved $180 over last year's energy bill for that month!!! I've been using my forced air gas heat now and then, when I want to have heat going to the downstairs rather than just upstairs.
Apparently it's warm enough, enough of the time, even in the winter, that the heat pump saves me a lot of money!
I'm amazed and wondering if it would make sense to replace my forced air gas furnace, which is old and going to keel over someday, with some kind of heat pump with electric backup.
Laura

I say wait for the "ZUBA"!

http://www.mitsubishielectric.ca/en/hvac/zuba-central/what_is_zuba_central.html

[chuckcrj]

I say wait for the "ZUBA"!

http://www.mitsubishielectric.ca/en/hvac/zuba-central/what_is_zuba_central.html

That looks better than the Hallowells as it has inverter drive compressor.

Any idea on when it will be available in US?

[snooked321]

I say wait for the "ZUBA"!

http://www.mitsubishielectric.ca/en/hvac/zuba-central/what_is_zuba_central.html

Hyper-Heat Inverter (H2i) technology??huh? Is this some sort of by-pass to the AH coil during heat then bringing it back to the condensor? A little confused at the wording.

[plarian]

I say wait for the "ZUBA"!

Huh.
Would it make sense, I wonder, to have a heat pump pulling heat from my garage? My garage is in the lower floor of my house. It's warmer than the outside because of heat leaking through the floor and walls. I don't know if it'd be wasteful to have the heat pump cooling down the garage, or not.
My forced air furnace is in the garage, it'd be easy to replace it with a heat pump pulling heat from the garage. I don't want it to freeze in the garage, there are water pipes.
Laura

[chilliwilly]

But then your garage would be cold and the heat that leaks in there from your dwelling would only add load to your system and make it less efficient.

Pull the heat from outside and fix the leaks/insulation from your dwelling into your garage. I can see where your coming from with your idea though, but it would be like leaving your car outside in the freezing cold.

[crmont]

Huh.
Would it make sense, I wonder, to have a heat pump pulling heat from my garage? My garage is in the lower floor of my house. It's warmer than the outside because of heat leaking through the floor and walls. I don't know if it'd be wasteful to have the heat pump cooling down the garage, or not.
My forced air furnace is in the garage, it'd be easy to replace it with a heat pump pulling heat from the garage. I don't want it to freeze in the garage, there are water pipes.
Laura


Laura, to give you some perspective, a heat pump (outdoor unit) would have most of the usable heat removed from your garage within a few minutes.

Heat pumps will even have issues with simple awnings or overhangs when installed outdoors.

An air source heat pump must have uninhibited and constant air flow from the outside air in all circumstances.

[crmont]

That looks better than the Hallowells as it has inverter drive compressor.

Any idea on when it will be available in US?

No idea. Even my Mitsubishi distributor hasn't heard of them yet. I could sell two tomorrow. Three if you count my house!

Search this forum for ZUBA.

[crmont]

Laura; To be clear, the Zuba is basically no different than your existing ductless installation. The indoor section of the Zuba will simply replace your existing furnace.

[plarian]

Laura, to give you some perspective, a heat pump (outdoor unit) would have most of the usable heat removed from your garage within a few minutes.


A heat pump water heater can exhaust cool air to an indoors space. I guess it's using a much less powerful heat pump.

Laura

[t527ed]

as long as you have gas in the house and depending on the gas/electric rates i would go with a heat pump/ gas furnace set up.