Heat pump results on our own house.

[barry12345]

The son in law and myself installed it a few days before Christmas. The semi open concept with large doorway passages would help I knew. As size increases the efficiency goes down. So I chose a ton and a half unit. A ton one was definatly too small.

It also was a high efficiency type. All this really is primarily. It is designed to put out the rated output and a little more at about 0F degrees. Or -15C. At any higher temperature Progressivly more than the rated amount up to about double the rated output is achieved.

Well the good, bad and the ugly. We installed it on the end of the family room. The heat blows along the ceiling for about 25 or so feet. Then the ceiling of the eating area is a step up of about 3 feet. From there it continues to blow through the remainder of the kitchen. Then through a portal into the dinning room. We had to increase the temperature to that of a very light tropical breeze. To feel comforatable. This is about 6 to seven degrees higher than we ran the furnace at. Simply because these are the primary areas we almost constantly live in when home.

The circulation flow is quite noticeable. The bedrooms on the upper floor seem to be only a couple of degrees cooler or at worse about the same temperature the furnace produced in them. I think the heat flow is heating the gyprock and the open area between the floor joists is supplying that heat to those bedrooms and a washroom up there. The percentage I will have to test by shutting a bedroom or bathroom door soon enough. There is no noticeable air flow in those rooms or the central hallway. Although there has to be some in the central hallway. Neither are noticeable.

The basement temperature has really fallen as there is no loss from all the ductwork or the furnace itself down there. My expectaions are for it to settle at about 50 to 55F degrees.

I both know this house very well as we built it. Plus had certain expectations. I originally thought a unit in the end of the living room would give that room a boost and flow heat upstairs. The living room is so close to livable tempertures it is not funny. Yet I will put a very small unit in there. Two facts hit me like a brick wall. The original furnace has to be very inneficient in reality. Plus this house insulation is better than I expected. I over insulated it a little when we built it but did not expect this.

The son in law mentioned that he thought eighty dollars a month would heat it through the worse winter months up here in Canada. I slapped a clamp meter on a power feeder and he is not far off on his guess. As long as the system is kept cleaned to retain the initial efficiency periodically. Right now of course being new it is both clean and at it's best. We never developed the two stepped basements into any really special uses. The place is a five bedroom side split into a hill to the west. So we are now living in a 77f degree light breeze in the primary living areas. This brand of air to air heat pump has the lowest head unit fan noise. You do not notice it is there unless you turn the unit off.

I had originally considered a 2 ton unit. Other than they are much less efficient to run cost wise. And they might get to the point of turning off. This you do not want. The unit should run continuously from the seasonal start up until the end of the heating system.

Or the intermittent circulation flow would cause real distribution problems. They automatically increase and decrease their outside compressor speed to meet demand. You never want one that has to shut off to meet low demand. It has to have a lowest output needed to meet a very small demand.

Today it is drawing 600 watts or .6 kilowatt as it is reasonabley warm today for this time of the year. The coldest since installation has been 0F. It was not working hard and the house temperatures where the same as today. I did not measure the electrical draw that night. I will all too soon at similar temperatures.

To get all parts and labor covered totally for ten years cost between 4-500.00. Even though we can do the labor ourselves. The price of the parts are so punitive. I never normally buy extended warranties. You will lose usually by doing that.

I though the son in law would get through his refrigeration apprenticeship before the replacement cycle really got going. When he quotes labor and parts costs on service calls. Also because of the increased efficiency as well. Many just ask him to replace the unit. To further increase their profit margin. The firm he works for is trying to buy a forty foot container of them from the orient.

He showed up with the stand up Mercedes type van he uses. With my equipment it takes me about a day to do a total installation. With theirs it is a walk in the park. I did the electrical and he the mechanical. Perhaps two hours work if he had not had to leave for awhile. I asked him just how much work are you doing in a day like yesterday for your employer. He said a two head heat pump installation . A service call. Two gas appliance hookups. This usually means running the pipes from the suppliers drop point as gas is fairly new here.

They have a sub contractor drilling all kinds of holes in an old cut stone railway station. Being converted to a restaurant. So he also went to check on that they were getting it right.