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OldSchool 44 minutes ago [-]
Heat pumps are probably vastly under-installed in the southern part of the US because natural gas has been cheap and plentiful. If you live where natural gas isn't available your fuel option is propane. Propane tracks the price of gasoline, perhaps slightly lower in my experience.
Here in Texas, electricity is only about $0.11/KWH so heat pumps work out like this:
Heat Pump 5.0 COP : $6.50 per MMBtu
Natural Gas : $12 - $15 per MMBtu
Propane at $3.00 / gallon : $32 per MMBtu
The unfortunate characteristic of heat pumps is that they become less efficient the more you need them, i.e. cold weather, but if weather is generally above freezing, heat pumps are close to their spec range that is based on 47F outdoor temperature.
A buried heat exchanger or a water well makes it a weather-proof geothermal system- this seems like the ideal; if you also need air conditioning it will make your cooling more efficient too.
magicalhippo 1 hours ago [-]
I'm always amazed at how much these costs in the US. Wild prices even for a Norwegian.
We have a two-story home half his size, but one minisplit upstairs and one downstairs would be $3-4000 installed, combined, and that's upper or top-end models.
The ones I got would easily handle a house of his size.
kylehotchkiss 1 hours ago [-]
If there's ductwork, it's something being installed into the building that has to pass inspections. It's not just one or two holes in the walls that need to be sealed.
magicalhippo 43 minutes ago [-]
But the article said he used existing ductwork, and yet it ended up at $14k.
The new heat pump system cost roughly $14,500 and provides heating and cooling via ductwork that was already in place.
butvacuum 6 minutes ago [-]
a bit rich since california is probabaly a major reason the systems are expensive to begin with.
kylehotchkiss 1 hours ago [-]
Why can't we do this for lumber. And drywall. And plumbing. And wires.
quickthrowman 23 minutes ago [-]
Dimensional lumber, gypsum board, plumbing pipe, and electrical conductors are commodities. Heat pumps are not.
There’s no need to subsidize commodity items, there’s plenty of competition to keep prices reasonable barring any massive supply/demand shifts.
Here in Texas, electricity is only about $0.11/KWH so heat pumps work out like this:
Heat Pump 5.0 COP : $6.50 per MMBtu Natural Gas : $12 - $15 per MMBtu Propane at $3.00 / gallon : $32 per MMBtu
The unfortunate characteristic of heat pumps is that they become less efficient the more you need them, i.e. cold weather, but if weather is generally above freezing, heat pumps are close to their spec range that is based on 47F outdoor temperature.
A buried heat exchanger or a water well makes it a weather-proof geothermal system- this seems like the ideal; if you also need air conditioning it will make your cooling more efficient too.
We have a two-story home half his size, but one minisplit upstairs and one downstairs would be $3-4000 installed, combined, and that's upper or top-end models.
The ones I got would easily handle a house of his size.
The new heat pump system cost roughly $14,500 and provides heating and cooling via ductwork that was already in place.
There’s no need to subsidize commodity items, there’s plenty of competition to keep prices reasonable barring any massive supply/demand shifts.