HVAC question

RatLabGuy

RatLabGuy

You look like a monkey and smell like one too
Joined
May 18, 2005
Location
Churchville, MD
A question for somebody that does HVAC installs or knows this buiness.
If you have a home that already has centralized heat and A/C, but the heat is oil... *roughly estimating* what's cost like to ocnvert the A/C to a heat pump, so the oil can be used only as a backup?
I'd think this wouldn't be too hard, you already have all the plumping, wiring etc due to the A/C, except a switch to select heat source between oil and heat pump (which is easy).
Not a huge house, one compressor would do it, say 14-1800 sq ft?
 
I think you'd be better off just buying a new unit. I priced the parts to fix mine when mine went bad and for $400 more than the parts I purchased a whole new unit.

Point is, once you have $$$ invested in the parts and actually figuring it out and working right, you could have purchased a new unit. Figure a new unit in the $3500 to $6500 range, just for the unit, depending on brand, SEERS, power source (oil, dual gas/oil and electric), size, etc. etc.
 
very comman up here. its called a dual fuel setup. carrier ac company calls theirs "hybrid heat" and pretends like they invented it. dual fuels been around for a long time. keep in mind that you cannot "convert" an ac unit into a heat pump, but youd have to replace the ac with a h/p. Get a 3 stage h/p stat, boom, your done. alot more involved, but you get the picture. ac mode, ac runs. regular heat mode, h/p (ac) runs. when temp drops and it cant keep up, furnace kicks in. emergency heat mode is straght furnace. with fuel prices as they are, its THE way to go, imo. rob
 
I'm very familiar with the "duel-fuel" setup, this is what we have in our home currently. It was just oil, and the PO had a H/P added... perhaps same time they went central A/C, I don't know.
I'm researching this for a place we are planning to rent up in MD. (no ta fan of renting but not much choice in this case).
The house currently has an AC unit and oil only. I know I will be seriously raped on the price of filling that oil tank and using it. I'm suspicious the owner is a thoughtful fellow. I am researching the cost of having him switch the A/C to a new H/P, and propose to help share the cost. This all depends on what the total bill would be.
For example, if it can be converted for $3500, I could pay 1/2 the bill for him, and that is still way less than the cost of a tank of oil - figure what, $5 (by the time the tme comes) per gallon, 750-1000 gallon tank... it's cheaper for me and he gets increased value on his house.
But if it's like $7k+, that's a diferent story. Not worth it to me as a renter for a max of 2 yrs.
 
Remember, in colder climates, you'll want a decent sized auxiliary heat strip. This also requires you to pull a decent sized 220V line from your box, so that can add to your cost as well. You'll need a second throw switch in close proximity of your unit in addition to the breaker for the auxiliary heat of a heat pump.
 
rockcity said:
Remember, in colder climates, you'll want a decent sized auxiliary heat strip. This also requires you to pull a decent sized 220V line from your box, so that can add to your cost as well. You'll need a second throw switch in close proximity of your unit in addition to the breaker for the auxiliary heat of a heat pump.
Click to expand...

Do you need that in addition to having the oil? The furnace would still be there to function as the backup heat.
Of course, even teh cost of using teh heat strips is probbaly < cost of burning oil. Just ads to the installation cost.
 
think he misunderstood what your trying to do. if the oil is your backup, no, you dont need the e-heat strips. your trying to get the cost efficiancy of heating with a h/p, without the drawbacks of the electric strip heat as a backup(very expensive to run). go for it- im a hvac guy, and thats what im going to do.
 
bigjeeprob said:
think he misunderstood what your trying to do. if the oil is your backup, no, you dont need the e-heat strips. your trying to get the cost efficiancy of heating with a h/p, without the drawbacks of the electric strip heat as a backup(very expensive to run). go for it- im a hvac guy, and thats what im going to do.
Click to expand...

Ok, then, HVAC-guy - what kind of ballpark figures are we talking about, to remove the AC unit and replace w/ a heat pump?
Does a used AC unit have any resale value?
 
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