Heat Pump Installed

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Sep. 17, 2016 9:55 am

24,000 btus, cools the first floor very well, and I imagine it will heat nearly the entire house until the weather gets cold. Very quiet, and pulls a lot of moisture out of the air. Will post an update when it gets cold.

(Try not to notice that I was experimenting with a new paint color before the install) :oops:

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Olllotj
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Post by Olllotj » Sat. Sep. 17, 2016 11:46 am

Pretty cool,

I would like one of those in our kitchen which is pretty centrally located, and gets really hot when cooking in the summer.

What is involved in the install? I can feel my electrician cringing already.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Sep. 17, 2016 12:35 pm

The electrical is actually very simple. Mine required a 20 amp breaker and a single pull of wire to the outside unit. There is a hole drilled through the wall where the indoor unit is mounted, then the refrigerant lines and wire are run down through conduit to the outside unit.

 
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Post by CoalHeat » Sat. Sep. 17, 2016 10:36 pm

Looks great!

 
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Oct. 09, 2016 10:11 am

This morning the first floor of the house was a little chilly, so I clicked the "heat" button and set the Daikin on 70 degrees. By the time the coffee finished brewing the first floor was very comfortable. So far I am pretty pleased with the performance.

 
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Post by coalkirk » Sat. Oct. 22, 2016 7:21 am

That ductless mini-split heat pump will work well in temps down below zero unlike a standard heat pump.

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Oct. 22, 2016 7:49 am

I think the datasheet says it will work down to 5 degrees.

There are some others that work in colder temperatures, but I have no intention of using the heat pump in that weather anyway. It is doing a fine job of keeping the house 72 right now - and I am saving my coal for colder weather when it can be burned more efficiently.


 
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Oct. 22, 2016 7:26 pm

I have used exactly 300 kwh in the last 7 days. Compared to last year that seems to be about 70 kwh more compared to the weekly average for October.

According to last month's bill my rate worked out to 0.095 per kwh. So far the heat pump seems very economical to operate.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Nov. 05, 2016 9:10 am

10-21-15 to 11-18-15: 908 kwh, 32.4 kwh per day

10-22-16 to 11-5-16: 623 kwh, 44.5 kwh per day

I have not bothered to look at how much of my extra electrical consumption falls on off-peak hours. That will have an impact on the final $.

 
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Post by windyhill4.2 » Sat. Nov. 05, 2016 12:52 pm

Since the coal boiler is fired up & burning a certain amount to just keep fired,wouldn't it be cheaper to heat all your house with coal rather than running both ?
The additional coal needed to do all the heating seems like it would be less than the additional electric needed to run the heat pump.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Nov. 05, 2016 1:06 pm

Hi David - I thought the same thing, but when I put pencil to paper it didn't work out that way.

When I start heating the entire house with the coal boiler it roughly doubles my daily consumption compared to just running it for domestic hot water. There is a fair amount of piping and water to heat up, and if there is only 3-4 heat calls per day, it has to heat the entire system up each time.

The heat pump seems to be costing me $1 to $1.25 per day to operate. An extra 15 lbs of coal per day is $1.80, and I have to haul the coal and ashes. The way it is running right now I only have to add coal and take out the ashes once per week.

Right now it would probably cost me the same amount to produce DHW with the oil boiler - but the EFM has the nice benefit of keeping the basement warm, so I am using that. Also - my bathrooms are on separate zones, piped with 1/2" piping - those call for heat once in a while and make good use of any "extra" heat from the EFM timer cycles.

 
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Nov. 20, 2016 5:03 pm

The heat pump seems to work fine in the blowing snow, and still has enough grunt to heat most of the house...shutting it down for today and letting the EFM take over.

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Post by Rob R. » Thu. Nov. 24, 2016 1:16 pm

The results are in.

In Oct & Nov of 2015 I used 1952 kwh.
In Oct & Nov of 2016 I used 2053 kwh.

At first glance it looks like the heat pump only added 101 kwh...but then I remembered that we replaced our dishwasher in Dec. 2015 and since then our electrical usage seems to be down 9%. Allowing for that, it appears that the heat pump added 276 kwh...which works out to $28 of additional cost for October and November combined.

As of today, for the month of November, I have burned about 300 lbs less coal ($36 worth) than I did in 2011 (last year that I have records for November). Degree days for that period this year are slightly higher than in 2011...although since then I have insulated the boiler, and also have one extra child using hot water.

I am not sure if the heat pump saves me any money compared to running the coal boiler in the mild weather, but it is certainly competitive - and it doesn't overheat the house on warm days.

 
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Post by coalnewbie » Sat. Jan. 27, 2018 8:44 am

Rob, being a natural leader of men, has me interested.

My initial reaction was that of a person who last looked into it 22 years ago and then it was no good for cold climates.. Am I going to burn less coal? ... no I don't think so but cuff season oil heat is becoming a nuisance. I am looking at Fujitsu as I have a local dealer that I trust but I worry about maintenance. I am sure they get gummed up over time. Robs numbers have me interested. Rob, keep the info coming

This technology has me fascinated ... but it's not in the US yet. I wonder why not.




 
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Jan. 27, 2018 10:41 am

Fujitsu makes good units. If you have an experienced dealer nearby, that is what I would go with.

I blow my outside unit out with a leaf blower a few times per year, and sweep the fuzzy stuff off the fins with a paint brush.

My inside unit has filters that I clean twice per season, but they have never been very dirty, and the coils look very clean. My local dealer will come clean them for a reasonable fee as well. The cleaned my dad's last year with a cleaning solution and a bag held under the inside unit to prevent any drips.


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