jtr1962
Flashaholic
Where I live is currently cooled by separate room air conditioners in summer and heated by oil heat in winter. The oil furnace also makes our hot water so we don't have a separate hot water heater. The price of oil is causing my mom to consider eventually switching to "something else". Also, the boiler is the original one from when the house was built (1952) so age may take its toll eventually and force us to upgrade. Right now our annual oil consumption for heating and hot water is in the 1500 gallon area. At present prices this is about $4500 but will only get much higher in the foreseeable future.
Of the alternatives, gas heat isn't particularly attractive since the price will undoubtably climb along with oil. The one thing we're both seriously considering is a central air conditioning/heat pump unit. Obviously this will entail installing ductwork since our present system is hot water heat. While the price of electricity will undoubtably rise also, the increase won't be as steep as oil price increases. As it stands now, I can't imagine that we would use even close to $4500 in electricity for heating should we go this route so operating costs should be lower. Best of all, since this conversion would make our house entirely based on electricity, we'll be setup for solar power should we ever install a system.
Now I have some questions:
1) How much more is a central air unit with heat pump capabilities as opposed to one which only cools? Since the cost of the installing the unit and ductwork will be the same regardless, then if the cost difference isn't huge we may as well have one system to do it all.
2) Will heating via heat pump be significantly more efficient than resistive heating in this part of the country? Winter highs average around 40°F and lows around 28°F but we do have cold spells where it won't get above 15°F for a week or more. Below zero temps are a rarity here.
3) In summers will the system use less electricity than we currently use for air conditioning while still having the capability to cool the whole house if need be? Would a two stage unit make the most sense? Usually we have three units on most of the time (kitchen, master bedroom, my bedroom) in the areas we usually occupy. The house is a one story ranch (24' x 42') with a finished basement. As a rough guess I'd figure we need about 40000 to 50000 BTUs to cool the entire house effectively on the hottest days but get by with 15000 or less just for the rooms we're in most of the time. We don't plan on running ductwork to the basement since we already have two AC units which can handle the cooling needs down there. Truth is the basement rarely gets above 80°F even on the hottest days so AC is more a comfort there than a necessity.
4) About how much would such a system be installed? Is installing a separate thermostat in each room feasible?
5) As for hot water, would a gas or electric hot water heater make more sense? Are any available that last longer than the usual 8 years (I'd really like something that's lifetime, especially if it's electric where nothing else can really go wrong)? Would using the waste heat from the central air unit to preheat the water be possible (i.e. is this a feature of some central air units)?
6) Will we need to upgrade our electric service? We currently have 240 VAC, 100 amp service but the breaker box only has room for one new breaker.
Please note that we're not doing this soon, meaning this year. We may do it in a year or two or three, or sooner if our old boiler finally gives up the ghost.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Of the alternatives, gas heat isn't particularly attractive since the price will undoubtably climb along with oil. The one thing we're both seriously considering is a central air conditioning/heat pump unit. Obviously this will entail installing ductwork since our present system is hot water heat. While the price of electricity will undoubtably rise also, the increase won't be as steep as oil price increases. As it stands now, I can't imagine that we would use even close to $4500 in electricity for heating should we go this route so operating costs should be lower. Best of all, since this conversion would make our house entirely based on electricity, we'll be setup for solar power should we ever install a system.
Now I have some questions:
1) How much more is a central air unit with heat pump capabilities as opposed to one which only cools? Since the cost of the installing the unit and ductwork will be the same regardless, then if the cost difference isn't huge we may as well have one system to do it all.
2) Will heating via heat pump be significantly more efficient than resistive heating in this part of the country? Winter highs average around 40°F and lows around 28°F but we do have cold spells where it won't get above 15°F for a week or more. Below zero temps are a rarity here.
3) In summers will the system use less electricity than we currently use for air conditioning while still having the capability to cool the whole house if need be? Would a two stage unit make the most sense? Usually we have three units on most of the time (kitchen, master bedroom, my bedroom) in the areas we usually occupy. The house is a one story ranch (24' x 42') with a finished basement. As a rough guess I'd figure we need about 40000 to 50000 BTUs to cool the entire house effectively on the hottest days but get by with 15000 or less just for the rooms we're in most of the time. We don't plan on running ductwork to the basement since we already have two AC units which can handle the cooling needs down there. Truth is the basement rarely gets above 80°F even on the hottest days so AC is more a comfort there than a necessity.
4) About how much would such a system be installed? Is installing a separate thermostat in each room feasible?
5) As for hot water, would a gas or electric hot water heater make more sense? Are any available that last longer than the usual 8 years (I'd really like something that's lifetime, especially if it's electric where nothing else can really go wrong)? Would using the waste heat from the central air unit to preheat the water be possible (i.e. is this a feature of some central air units)?
6) Will we need to upgrade our electric service? We currently have 240 VAC, 100 amp service but the breaker box only has room for one new breaker.
Please note that we're not doing this soon, meaning this year. We may do it in a year or two or three, or sooner if our old boiler finally gives up the ghost.
Thanks in advance for any help.