Posted on 10/23/2021 4:33:44 AM PDT by dennisw
Boris told us this week that if we are to meet the Government’s targets for reducing carbon emissions we must abandon our gas boilers and install heat pumps. Well, I was ahead of the game.
The conditions were ideal. We were rebuilding the house from scratch so we laid the underfloor piping before the floors went down.
The walls were stone, but strict building regulations meant our insulation was state of the art.
And better still, the field behind the house was perfect for laying the pipes needed for a ground source system, which is far more efficient than the air source alternative that has to be used in the vast majority of homes in towns and cities.
It cost a small fortune, but it was worth it. I was helping to save the planet and saving myself the cost of buying nasty, polluting oil.
The perfect win-win, I told myself. A toasty house whatever the weather and a minuscule energy bill.
But I was wrong. For a start I had not allowed for the electricity needed to run the pump.
Not a big problem because I’d also installed an array of solar panels. But you can’t do that in a small semi or a flat.
The real killer was that it didn’t do its job. I have not ended up with a toasty house in mid-winter.
If my lovely neighbour switches it on a couple of days before I arrive, it takes the chill off the downstairs rooms. But that’s about it.
To get really warm, I have to fire up the log-burning stove. Again, not exactly an option in your typical suburban semi.
The sad reality is I’ve spent a small fortune and have not ended up with a cosy house.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I am replacing my 16 year old HVAC system Monday. I live on the Washington coast and the saltwater corrosion wreaked havoc on my Goodman heat pump.
Fortunately I have a dual fuel system. When it gets below 32 degrees the heat pump shuts off and the propane furnace takes over.
The new system is a Trane also dual fuel. No way in Hell could a heat pump alone keep us warm even in our temperate climate. And the libs out here have started a war against natural gas. Watch out as this craziness moves east.
Heatpumps can be put in for little or even no additional cost when replacing AC. I’ve done them for some of the lowest end projects as well.
The biggest deal is doing the correct calculations and picking the right equipment for the job. It’s 5th grade math but most people simply don’t take the time to do it.
Of course it’s definitely more idiot proof to slap in a 200% oversized gas heater and call it a day. You save a few hours of math but lose much more in equipment, materials and energy. For this reason many cities are now mandating engineering of any new HVAC
The heat pump is always going to blow colder air than a combustion furnace. So it’s never going to feel as comfortable. It does make a robust AC due to the high volume of air moving.
Skin temperature is far lower than internal and you shouldn’t be blowing the HVAC air directly on people. The idea is to keep the room itself at 72F without big drafts where people are located.
Of course it also depends on insulation and seal. Many contractors don’t even properly install the minimum code insulation so you get drafts from outdoors.
I have clients with proper code minimum insulation perfectly satisfied with as little as 82F supply temperature.
Every single complaint I had was due to improper insulation and never equipment or design
Higher supply temp is only necessary where you have extremely poor insulation causing drafts. Like brick without any insulation at all.
I have clients perfectly satisfied with 82F supply and 0F degrees outside with current code minimum insulation.
We have a ground source system for AC and heat.
Four 200 foot wells under the driveway.
Works cheap.
Y’all keep warm n happy this winter. Will be interesting to see how slow joe manages to screw things up even more this winter.
Q: “...who considers a ground-sourced geothermal heat pump system without thinking about the cost of electricity?”
A: Ignorant liberals who have no idea how the world works.
My heat pump puts out lukewarm air — WAH!!
“...this is a moral issue. We must do everything in our power to repair the terrible harm we have already done and, above all, stop it getting even worse.” — WAH, WAH, WAH!!!!
Good Lord...here we have a true-believer in the “save the earth” cause but he won’t put up with the mildest of inconveniences?
This is just a foretaste of the main course to come. Just wait until he can’t afford to drive his car or take an airplane flight or his food costs 10X more than today. He will really be howling then.
Everyone’s idea of what “toasty warm” is differs. My sister has a heat pump and I shiver in her house from Fall until late Spring. If it’s ever above 70 degrees in there I’d be surprised. Even with warm clothing, I need to be in a room that’s set at 74 or even 75 to feel comfortable, I just run cold. I’ll sit out in 90+ weather and feel great, and I often exceed the recommended sauna and hot tub times just because it feels so nice in there. Perhaps I am part lizard?
“Four 200 foot wells”
Those must not have been cheap to drill.
Not cheap.
But pay-back vs. traditional unit was just less than five years.
We built in 2002...
A cold winter in the UK will mean deaths due to the effects of hypothermia especially among the elderly who cannot afford their energy bills. Those of us living in the northern plains of the US can often experience the polar vortex effect which funnels arctic cold to the Great Plains and plunges temperatures into the -40F range. Short winter days and the doldrum winds that come with these events mean windmills and solar farms are worthless to keep people from literally freezing to death. We have to look at nothing more than the havoc caused by the Texas blackouts last year to see what is in store for the country under Biden’s energy policies.
That’s a darn good payback!
But surely you factored in the cost of electricity when you decided on investing in geothermal?
Q: “...who considers a ground-sourced geothermal heat pump system without thinking about the cost of electricity?”
A: Ignorant liberals who have no idea how the world works.
To answer my own question, I think people who do not think about the cost of electricity when installing a heat pump are the same people who believe that Governments have money and that free stuff costs nothing. These are all forms of magical thinking. Small children, teenagers and liberals all fall into this category.
It is the same small child thinking that Socialism and Communism will work if only done by the “right people.”
You betcha
In reality, they are not that great unless you are prepared to do a great deal of tinkering.
And the UK does not really get that cold.
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