Winnipesaukee Forum - View Single Post

Rattlesnake Guy · 11-30-2007, 03:13 PM

I ran some calcs and came to some interesting numbers using a heat pump. I am doing further checking on a new type of heat pump from Maine called a Cold Climate Heat Pump CCHP. This unit is designed for our cold conditions and does not freeze up down to some very cold number . (Will provide more info as I understand)

Anyway. At 40 degrees just for comparison.

A million BTU of oil at $3.00 per gallon is $21.58 / %90 efficiency = $23.98

A million BTU of electric heat at $0.12 per KW is $35.16

A million BTU of Heat Pump 13 Seer as $0.12 per KW is $9.20

I guess the big problem with heat pumps is the moisture freezing on the outdoor coils when the temperature gets to low outside.

I know when I ran the numbers a few years ago for the camp and compared a heat pump to propane cylinders it was a no brainier to use a heat pump. (Which we did and have both AC and Heat) When we get to the camp the over sized unit can raise the temperature about 2 degrees per minute. The unit was only about half the BTU of the gas furnace it replaced but the heating of the air and blowing it around the room is much faster than the radiant and convection heating of the propane unit.

With the propane wall furnace, it was almost like the mass of the camp had to heat up before the air temperature would get to 70 degrees. The heat pump seems to be able to keep the air 70 degrees "while" the mass heats.

If I lived at the lake in the winter, I would use the lake water in a geothermal type setup. (If legal) That would provide heat at the 40% cost of oil described above, year round.

11-30-2007, 03:13 PM	#50
Rattlesnake Guy Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 1,254 Thanks: 423 Thanked 366 Times in 175 Posts	Decided to answer part of my own question I ran some calcs and came to some interesting numbers using a heat pump. I am doing further checking on a new type of heat pump from Maine called a Cold Climate Heat Pump CCHP. This unit is designed for our cold conditions and does not freeze up down to some very cold number . (Will provide more info as I understand) Anyway. At 40 degrees just for comparison. A million BTU of oil at $3.00 per gallon is $21.58 / %90 efficiency = $23.98 A million BTU of electric heat at $0.12 per KW is $35.16 A million BTU of Heat Pump 13 Seer as $0.12 per KW is $9.20 I guess the big problem with heat pumps is the moisture freezing on the outdoor coils when the temperature gets to low outside. I know when I ran the numbers a few years ago for the camp and compared a heat pump to propane cylinders it was a no brainier to use a heat pump. (Which we did and have both AC and Heat) When we get to the camp the over sized unit can raise the temperature about 2 degrees per minute. The unit was only about half the BTU of the gas furnace it replaced but the heating of the air and blowing it around the room is much faster than the radiant and convection heating of the propane unit. With the propane wall furnace, it was almost like the mass of the camp had to heat up before the air temperature would get to 70 degrees. The heat pump seems to be able to keep the air 70 degrees "while" the mass heats. If I lived at the lake in the winter, I would use the lake water in a geothermal type setup. (If legal) That would provide heat at the 40% cost of oil described above, year round.