how to be frugal with a heat pump

[marvella]

sometimes i feel like i'm being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. please forgive length, rambling and extraneous details.

when they built my new little home i planned a woodstove with propane furnace back up. after consulting with both the builder and the heating and air guy, i really did see the sense of going with a heat pump. i'm no spring chicken and part of my goal was to plan for a comfortable retirement. i work hard, and at this point am open to more labor saving devices than in the past.

with gas prices the way they are, it was easy to let that idea go, in favor of gas logs as a back up emergency heat source.

i really like the heat pump, much more than i expected. i set it on 70 and be totally comfortable and cozy. it's way better than the gas furnace in the DW where i set it on 72 and shivered. and paid big.

the one thing about it that is bothering me is that my electric bill has jumped from 35 a month, to 140!! in half the space. i got the first bill before the house was even done and it was nearly 100. freaked out then until i realized that there were workers in and out all the time leaving doors and windows open. now that i have actually moved in, it's 140 and i don't even have the freezer hooked up yet.

it's not so much the money as it is trying to conserve electricity. yes, it's my odd little opinion that i should try and conserve energy because of the tva coal fired power plants that choke us with smog that rival LA much of the summer. i do what i can.

so, please help me brainstorm how i can most efficiently use these nice new resources? it's coming on spring, and it's turned off for now. i just can't imagine what will happen to the electric usage if we ever get cold and snowy weather again.

i have a gas log fireplace and heat pump. what is the most efficient and frugal use for them.

thanks to all!

[Peacock]

We had a heat pump in our old house. It worked great, except it took some getting used to never really feeling hot air come out of the registers. It just sort of mysteriously warmed the house.

What did you pay for the gas in the DW? I'm assuming your new house is a lot bigger than the DW was? More area costs more to heat, of course.

Our 3 BR, 2-story house, about 1800 sq. feet, cost us between $180-200/month to heat in the winter with the heat pump. In the peak summer months with air conditioning (since a heat pump is also an air conditioner) it was similar, with dips in between. It worked out to about $85/month on even billing. That's in SW Ohio -- TN shouldn't be too much different, averaged between the seasons. Heat pumps generally are efficient and no-brainers to operate. I kind of miss it.

[agmantoo]

One thing you do not want to do is to fiddle with the thermostat. If you turn the heat lower then later turn the thermostat higher it will kick the strip heat on and the advantage of the the heatpump is lost as with the strip heat you have an electric furnance

[doing it in NM]

Make sure you have an outside t-stat, you should be able to go to your outside unit and look where the wires go into the unit and find a small cooper tube. If you don't see one, call your hvac man and have him put it in. TN is where I moved from, lived and own a hvac business for over 20 years. It is required on a HP, altho a lot of new houses don't have them. If you do see the tube take the cover off and locate where the tube ends, there will be a little dial some have numbered markings(20-30-40) others just have + or -. You waant to set it about 29 since you have a new 13 seer unit. This locks out your heat strip until the outside temp hits what you set. Thus saving money. HP is the cheapest heat until the coils kick in and then it starts getting up in cost.

[Beeman]

I don't know what it is about TN except that they love TVA. This must be the place that uses more heat pumps than anywhere in the country and uses more elec. in the winter than anywhere else. I don't think much of heat pumps and in most cold climate areas they stick with a furnace. The one reason I see that people use heat pumps is they must have A/C and it's an all in one type unit/installation so it's cheaper and easier to install. I personally don't like forced air heat and don't use A/C much.

[marvella]

yes, tva does love heat pumps. they have a huge program where they will install them for people that can't afford them and let them make a little extra payment on their bill each month to pay for it. everyone has them, i was a hold out, as usual.

can anyone answer about how to be saving with it? i'm willing to give up a little comfort in exhange for less electricity use. with warmer days coming, i wonder if can just use the gas logs to knock the chill off and turn off the HP altogether until i need AC.

agman, i guess i don't understand completely how it works. i do turn it off when i leave for more than a few hours. if i don't it seems to run constantly and that can't be good.

[heather]

our hvac man told us not to turn it off -
set it at a temp & leave it
ours is 65 during the day, 63 at night

do you have a programmable thermostat?

i've also heard people tell to turn the fan from AUTO to ON
all the time!
i find that hard to believe but apparently it saves in the long run
one contractor told us he owned a house with a heat pump for 6 yrs & had the fan turned to ON the whole time

[danoon]

We set ours at 68 in the winter and close vents in rooms we don't use often and close the doors. If the temp outside is going to be 60 or better we turn it off.

[Peacock]

I was told you couldn't use a programmable thermostat with a heat pump. I can't remember why, though.

[Jenn]

like NM meant and agman said- DON'T let the heat strip come on- the heat pump can move warmth from outside to inside down to 30 or 29 or whatever outside temp, above that do gradual (or alternate) heating just pumping heat not using the heat strip like in an oven or toaster oven.

Here it's very mild so I often turn off the heat. Then if I turn it back on I turn the temp down to as low as to just turn on the heat pump, not so high it thinks it has to heat things in a hurry and so use the heat strip. A blue light comes on if the heat strip is on- I decrease temp til it goes out and then as the house warms slowly increase thermostat. Probably any time I mess up and leave heat strip on I lose all the elec I saved turning it off some days, so best to pick a temp if possible and leave it (such temp swings and sunshine here night to day now in our early spring we'd want AC by 5 pm if we had heat on til 9 am). The prior owner didn't even have a heat strip- just turned on his propane fp if he was real cold- but we got it put in- maybe bad idea for our climate but not yours.

Other issues our old owner didn't tell me about until later: any vents you can close? We have crawl space vents and fan we switch off/to closed in late fall before we start heating. Also an attic fan I keep off all winter and on cool/cloudy days in transitional season which will run 24/7 once we're out of heating season. Not blocking the attic vents though- too much work and ? risk moisture build up.

[Selena]

Are you positive it is your heat pump and not an old(er) appliance such as a freezer or fridge? We kept an old(er) upright freezer that the seller of our house left. I know in my heart it has an appetite for electricity. When we turn off the heated floors, it will become apparent to the spouse. I should take our friend's offer (electrician) and have him check the consumption rate. We have to "do the math" and look at KW as Com Ed, "we're going broke but can pay the CEO $16 million", got a rate hike in January.
I'd also make sure you don't have any leaks - e.g. window not sealing shut, door sweep/weather stripping is sealing tight.

[halfpint]

The best way to be frugal with a heat pump is probably the same as with any system. We set our thermostat at 68 in the winter (although we heat primarily with wood), and at 78 in the summer. Try to keep from opening/closing doors frequently (we try to go in/out the basement door when it's extrememly hot/cold), and have good insulation in your home. Covering windows with drapes usually helps in both seasons - in winter to keep the cold at bay and in summer keeps the sun from shining in and heating.

You can get programmable controllers for heat pumps, but it's recommended not to change them for the winter - unless you're going to be gone for a long time - probably a week or so. In the summer it will benefit you if you are out of the home a lot.

Are you actually running heat/AC right now - we haven't run ours for almost a month, and probably won't run our system until late May or June? Have you changed lightbulbs? Have you put in any appliances that are older and might be energy hogs? Are they still doing some construction on your home that might have used some equipment that uses electricity?

Dawn

[QuiltingLady2]

Originally Posted by heather

our hvac man told us not to turn it off -
set it at a temp & leave it
ours is 65 during the day, 63 at night

do you have a programmable thermostat?

i've also heard people tell to turn the fan from AUTO to ON
all the time!
i find that hard to believe but apparently it saves in the long run
one contractor told us he owned a house with a heat pump for 6 yrs & had the fan turned to ON the whole time

This is what we do. Turn the fan to on and leave it. Somehow during Dec and Jan the on had been flipped to Auto. Wow the bill was huge. I even called the company to find out why. Finally figured it out and now the bill is back to normal.

We set our heat during the day at 67. We live in a damp climate. H is an energy director for a local company so I guess he knows. At night it's set at 60.

Good luck. These energy bills are horrible for all of us still connected to the mother board.

[heather]

Originally Posted by edayna

I was told you couldn't use a programmable thermostat with a heat pump. I can't remember why, though.

we do it every day

[heather]

Originally Posted by QuiltingLady2

This is what we do. Turn the fan to on and leave it.

could you ask your hubby, does it save energy because it takes more energy for it to flip back on each time? it uses less when it runs constantly?

the other reason we might be leaning in that direction is that we have a basement - I think it would help just to have the air moving down there -

THANKS!

[marvella]

ok about just leaving it on auto, i was told that was the worst way to use any ch/ac unit as it flips back and forth between heat and ac.

maybe i'll just experiment and see what i can come up with. i didn't like writing that check this evening. i'd rather be a little cold....

[Big Dave]

I got a heat pump. I have not used it all winter. I burn wood.

[Stillponds]

A heat pump produces less heat as the outside temps drop. A heat pump will always produce heat for less cost than resistance heat strips. If your heat pump can maintain the temp in your home, even if it never stops running, it will be less expensive than using heat strips. Your heat pump will have several circuit breakers supplying power to it. Determine which breakers are for the heat strips and turn then off. I suspect the thermostat is not programmed for efficiency and causing the heat strips to be in use when not really needed. I live in northern Arkansas and infrequently need to turn the heat strip breakers on, only if the temps are in the low teens. The easiest way to monitor your electrical usage is to read the meter daily so any changes are immediately noticed.
Dave

[doing it in NM]

The only problem in turning off the heat strips is when it goes into defrost it has nothing to counter act the ac it blows in while in defrost. The best bet on saving money is keep the temp steady, if you are going to be gone all day don't turn it off just turn it down to 65 or so. Heat pumps take time to warm up so a constant temp is easier to maintain. Why most of the south uses HP is because the average temps are realitvly mild. If I lived where below freezing was the norm, I would still have a HP but backed up with gas (dual fuel), Hp are cheaper to operate until the strips are needed then gas is cheaper.

[Beeman]

Originally Posted by marvella

yes, tva does love heat pumps. they have a huge program where they will install them for people that can't afford them and let them make a little extra payment on their bill each month to pay for it. everyone has them, i was a hold out, as usual.

can anyone answer about how to be saving with it? i'm willing to give up a little comfort in exhange for less electricity use. with warmer days coming, i wonder if can just use the gas logs to knock the chill off and turn off the HP altogether until i need AC.

agman, i guess i don't understand completely how it works. i do turn it off when i leave for more than a few hours. if i don't it seems to run constantly and that can't be good.

As you can see I live in TN also, along with Al Gore. This is what amazes me about our states push to make more electricity with coal and kill us slowly. Most think TVA is all hydro power because of the TVA lakes. Instead we're helping to make Kentucky and West Virginia flat by burning all the coal possible. I live very close to a TVA fossil fuels plant, fancy name for we're burning coal and killing you with mercury.
I think you would have been better off with gas.