Posted on 07/27/2011 11:38:26 AM PDT by WHATNEXT?
Our furnace has quit and a major decision has to be made. We have a gas (propane) furnace that has lasted 15 years. The outside cooling unit would still work IF the furnace fan system was working.
The furnace people have recommended Carrier. They also carry Trane. Does anybody have recent experience with the duel system with gas and heat pump?
This will be a major expense, more than 15,000.00 so anybody with knowledge to help guide me to the best decision of a bad deal would be appreciated.
Good advice and good questions. Thanks.
Wow - is the same company doing this? Scary.
Even though we have used this company for the last two installations and be believe them to be honest, it is definitely time to get two more bids.
Oh and if you have lost 3 heat pumps insist they run new copper lines. It might be contamination in the lines that killed your other units.
Were you there when they installed them? If you were, did they flush the lines (they hook a vacuum pump up to the lines after running some sort of flush through them) or run new copper? (Better to run new copper coolant lines, but impractical in some situations.)
We have a Trane gas furnace. Works very well! Cost about $3500 installed.
I hope no one reading this believes that malarky.
Amazing how that "waste heat" provides cooling, too.
2? No way, get 10. 3 total quotes is way to few. Our first three quotes were 9K 10K and 6K. We got our unit for slightly over $4300 before the rebates we qualified for, $2600 after all rebates and tax credits. Look for the hungriest contractor who has good references. Try Service Magic. Google it. It makes it easy to come up with quotes.
You could have your 10 quotes by Friday.
A heat pumo uses a compressor to compress freon (or similar gas). The byproduct of compression is heat and it has to go somewhere. A heat pump captures the “heat byproduct” and passes it thru a heat exchanger to heat your home. To cool - the compressed gas is expanded (physics) and cooled and then passed thru a heat exchanger. Go back to school and take physics 101 before you call my explanation malarky...red
A Carrier / Trane thread here:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hvac/msg071506325619.html?1
Lots of good Trane and Carriet threads here:
http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/hvac/
In fact, GardenWeb has lots of good repair and home issue forums.
Ahem, waste heat????
A heat pump is a machine or device that diverts heat from one location (the ‘source’) at a lower temperature to another location (the ‘sink’ or ‘heat sink’) at a higher temperature using mechanical work or a high-temperature heat source. A heat pump can be used to provide heating or cooling. Even though the heat pump can heat, it still uses the same basic refrigeration cycle to do this. In other words a heat pump can change which coil is the condenser and which the evaporator. This is normally achieved by a reversing valve. In cooler climates it is common to have heat pumps that are designed only to provide heating.
Have been very pleased. Live in a Pittsburgh-type climate. Standard Carrier heat pump thermostat allows auto switchover from heat pump heating mode to gas furnace at user selected outside temperature.
System has worked very well. Also got reduced electric rate from local electric company since heating was "dual fuel"
"Waste heat" has nothing to do with the correct heat pump explanation -- heat is pumped from the inside out or the outside in. Your specious explanation implies some intrinsic energy property of the cfc can be used to heat and cool the house simply by compressing or expanding it -- that is nonsense and a good candidate for the fools' perpetual motion machine Hall of Fame.
That is a slam dunk.
Sounds about right -- my three ton Coleman heat pump/electric furnace cost $3,800 installed. This was only a 10.5 seer unit but oversized for our re-insulated mobile home. During these 90 degree days the heat pump cooling function doesn't come on until mid-afternoon. We use a ventless propane fireplace for supplemental heat in the winter and the furnace hardly ever gets used. The heat pump seems to heat ok without going to 100% duty down to about 25F, which surprised me (this is without the fireplace).
Excellent point. I can tell you that, having been in the business, it's the loyal customers that tend to get stroked a little. It's not so much dishonesty as just human nature.
If you let your company know you are getting bids, they may come up with another creative plan that saves you money.
I have the same setup and had the same issue last year. We went with a Carrier Comfort 92 and it’s been solid.
Agree with others, $15K sounds way too high. I think ours was about $7500.
steve86 may lack a little tact but Dr. Heat Pump would have to come down on his side on this one.
Though, I can imagine a vapor-compression refrigeration device used to capture waste heat from the compression of a gas. This would be an auxiliary unit used for heat reclaim and would certainly be secondary to the main process.
So if you happen to be running a 75HP air compressor constantly, you may be able to heat your house for free.
Our experience also. About half the 15K. Do some more shopping.
My husband and I own a heating and a/c company. What are you getting for 15 thousand? Is it a very high Seer rating and a really high efficiency furnace. We sell Carrier and the only time we have sold a system that cost anywhere near that much it was the highest SEER rating and the highest efficiency furnace on the market.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.