HVAC input needed

willness33

willness33

Here for the memes
Joined
May 3, 2005
Location
Alexis,NC
Ok, after just getting another outrageous propane bill, I've been thinking. Would it be possible to add a heatpump to a gas furnace and run a "hybrid" setup with a furnace that wasn't built for it? The furnace is only 4 years old and is one of those high efficiency deals that uses PVC as the exhaust. I'm tired of getting screwed for outrageous propane bills when a heatpump would work for most days. Also, I have a split system with a propane furnace and A/C on the first floor and a separate heatpump for the 2nd floor.
 
its called duel fuel.and yea you should be able to replace the outside ac with a heatpump. would need a plus one kit or some t-stats are able to also.what brand, seer rateing on outside?
 
Travs97 said:
its called duel fuel.and yea you should be able to replace the outside ac with a heatpump. would need a plus one kit or some t-stats are able to also.what brand, seer rateing on outside?
Click to expand...
I'll check into the seer rating, if you tell me how.LOL I believe the brand is Tappan. So this is a do-able thing? I'm willing to bet it'd pay for itself pretty quick since my last pane bill was over $600 for only 1.5 months. We're getting charged close to $3 per gallon, STILL!
 
Travs97 said:
its called duel fuel.and yea you should be able to replace the outside ac with a heatpump. would need a plus one kit or some t-stats are able to also.what brand, seer rateing on outside?
Click to expand...


NC Code requires a minimum of 13 SEER on anything new now.

I'd go with a packaged unit with heat and AC in one. they are fairly cheap and are really easy to install. I installed mine October of 2007 and it was really easy (other than getting out of my truck by myself!!)

For those really cold days, you can get a 10kW or greater heat strip. For that, you'll need 220V power run to the unit from the panel box on its own dedicated circuit. And, you will have to have a seperate outside breaker for the 220V heat strip within about 6' of the unit. If you don't already have this 220V circuit, then this will prob. be the hardest part of adding in a packaged unit in place of your furnace. The only other issue would be the ductwork. However, depending on what brand packaged unit you'd get, you can get different outlets for the supply and return (side by side, over under, round, square, rectangle, etc.)
 
Our old home had a dual-fuel setup, not unlike what you propose.
House wasb uilt in '63, w/ oil furnace connected to central ductwork; only AC at that time was a sngle window unit on one end.
Somewhere along the line the POs had a heat pump A/C unit installed, connected to teh same central fan/ducting as the oil furnace.
Both systems were tied to the main interior t-stat, which had a switch to select the heat source.
Additionally, there was a switch tied to an outside t-stat; when teh temp reached a determined level, it woudlk auto-switch from heat-pump to oil. Originally thsi wasl iek 40 deg, point at which heat pump becoems inefficient, bu twhen teh price of oil shot up, we just lowered it to like 0 so it never ran oil.
This was a great setup, we ran oil only liek 3-4 times a winter when it was REALLY cold, it'd heat the house fast. Plus, if there was a problem w/ the heat pump, I had a backup.
Biggest problem for me, as "the guy that inherited it" was figuring out the mess of wiring.
 
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