Anyone here run a heat pump

[174in]

If so is it a ground source or air source? Are they worth having or not in a climate in sw wisconsin? Do you have much of a fuel bill or real high electric bill? Fill me in on your thoughts and let me know if you think they are worth the price.

 

[cadman59501]

I put one in a house im building in NE MT. the installer claims his heat bills are about$ 80 per month on about 3000 sf

 

[warmer]

If your electric rates are near 4-6 cents per kw, the heat pump is your best choice. The climate in Wisconsin is certainly acceptable for a heat pump. If you plan to live in your house for 10 years or so, the ground source is absolutley the way to go. PM me if you want, I am a HVAC contractor and install both systems.

 

[npaden]

Little different climate here in Texas, but just about everyone runs an air source heat pump here.

 

[RockyDog]

ive run the numbers and the only way a heat pump will pay for itself is if you have air conditioning. FOr me Im heating a 2,600 sf house and it would take 19 years for simple payback. the real payback comes from AC.

 

[warmer]

Rocky, what do you use as a heat source and what are your electric rates? I do not doubt your numbers at all, just curious. He will be cooling alot.

 

[wingman1]

ive run the numbers and the only way a heat pump will pay for itself is if you have air conditioning. FOr me Im heating a 2,600 sf house and it would take 19 years for simple payback. the real payback comes from AC.

If you have NG and NW energy then your right. But if you use LP and have REC power then you are missing out.

 

[RockyDog]

We have a natural gas furnace and our electric runs about 9 to 10 cents i think.

wingman I definitely agree. I have NG from NW.

 

[sweetnectar]

NG is cheap so if mostly what your looking for is heat then I wouldn't recommend a heat pump. If you are set on putting one in anyway you'll likely need to go ground source. Once your outside air temp starts getting cold it is harder to extract heat from it (efficiency drops.) I've seen air source pumps that are good to -15F but when it gets cold they have to run constantly. Good HVAC guys can run calculations for you.

 

[RockyDog]

What do you guys think of using a groundwater well for the source?

 

[warmer]

As long as the water is not very hard. If it is, the heat exchanger has to be cleaned regularly. Maintenance is expensive, even if you do it yourself.

 

[174in]

Thanks guys I would be using it to cool also.The humidity can get terrable here during the summer months.We have below 0 weather here for about 2 months out of the year.

 

[174in]

Also I would have natural gas as a backup

 

[Lawnboy]

What do you guys think of using a groundwater well for the source?

I believe they are the most affordable. You have a great resource over in the Bitteroot right now for heat pumps. It is Ray's plumbing and heating. They are out of Salmon Idaho but opened a branch in Montana. Last year alone the guy in Salmon told me they did close to 150 water source heat pump installs. They are about $10,000 cheaper than anything over my way. http://raysheating.com/?q=node/wm They are great with any questions you may have.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I've got a groundsource heatpump that I installed in my house. I hooked up with Sunteq Geothermal from PA and bought materials and the heatpump and airhandler through them. Mine is a closed loop system with five 80' long ditches that contain 4200' of pipe. I have sandy soil with no rocks so my excavation cost was very low. I made the Slinky loops and put them in the ditches and also plumbed up all the manifolds and did the ductwork. I hired a local HVAC guy to braze the connections between the airhandler and heat pump and make sure everything was up to spec.

It was a lot of work but the system only cost about 1/2 of what the local HVAC company wanted for a groundsource heat pump. So far I love it. I've been running it since January and am very pleased with it so far.


January and February were the two coldest months I ran it. Several weeks of 0 degree lows and average of @ 10 degrees with a couple -5 degree nights thrown in. I have electric everything in the house and am heating 3400 sq ft and my total electric bill for each month was @ $235. I think our electric is @ 6-7 cents per kilowatt hour.
If you don't have rocky ground and have plenty of space to dig, I think ditches can save you a lot of money over wells.

Hook it up with a desuperheater for your domestic hot water and when you are running your air conditioner your hot water is basically free.

 

[hardscrabble]

I installed an air source this fall in our new house. I put in a 16 seer unit. I really like it for temps. above 25 degrees. Anything below that it has to work to hard to heat the house and at that point natural gas is more economical.

Simple set up with an outdoor air sensor to switch over to the NG furnace when the outdoor air temp drops below 25 degrees.