I am looking for someone who has had a heat pump installed lately?
Question:can anyone tell me how much electric they use if thay have a heat pump for tyeir heating does it use a lot of power?
Answers:
about a heat pump: I have been a heat and air tech for 12 years so maybe i can answer this for you
there are three types of heat sources:
gas furnace: typicaly the cheapest form of heat
heat pump: next cheapest form
electric heat: most expensive source
How a heat pump works: your outdoor condensing unit will make coold and warm air all it does is reverse the flow of freon if you want air it sends the hot gases thru the condenser coil(outside in unit) first where the heat is pulled off by condenser fan then the freon wil go thru evap. Coil(inside) where it is converted from liquid to gas and cooling process happens as the blower blows the air across the coil.
in the heating mode it sends the hot gases thru the evap. coil where the blower will pull the heat out of the freon and blow warm air insid your house, and the cooling is actually taking place outside if you feel the air coming out the top of the outdoor unit it will be cold, its basicaly runniny the air conditioner backwards.
there are many advantages and disadvantages of heat pumps:
advantages:
the are cheaper than running straight electric heat strips a heat pump will draw depending on size between 15 to 30 amps. electric heat strips will draw 20 amps for every 5kw of heat the most common is 15 kw but there can be as much as 25 kw so you are looking at 60-100 amps so if you have electric heat it is a big plus to have a heat pump,
HOWEVER heat pumps if it is real cold like below 35-40 degress outside or there is a lot of moister in the air do to the cold froen going out side it will freeze up the out door coil, it does have a sensor on it that will automaticly put in in the defrost mode where it will reverse the freon flow and take the hot froen back outside and cold froen inside to melt the ice it will also kick the electric heat or emergancy heat on and it is basicly runnin a/c and heat at the sam time so if you are in a climate that is below 35-40 all the time its not muck good you would need to just set the tstat to emerg. heat and that will bypass the heat pump and just use the electic heat,
if you have a gas furnace just use emerg. heat and never use reg heat
no,, it hardly uses any electric. and it relies only on a 3amp fuse. dont worry,,, its not burning all your electric up.
I had a heat pump installed in July 2006. Extremely satisfied with it.
My gas consumption decreased and my electric did not change much. OPur electric utility company reduced my KW rate by 1/2 so I pay less now than I previously did.
My HP runs when the temperature is 34 degrees or over. When it falls below the 34 degree level my furnace automatically kicks on.
I bought a 14 SEER American Standard Heap Pump.
More Related Questions & Answers...