heat pump or A/C?

16 years ago

last spring we had our new Amer. Standard gas furnace installed (AUY080R9V3W). it is paired with our 15 year old Rheem central a/c unit which we are planning to replace with either a heat pump or just another a/c unit. we had our home professionally load calculated at 2.5 tons last fall. we live in OH where the winters are cold and and average summer highs in the upper 80's to low 90's. we are looking for recommendations on either a heat pump or a/c. we would like to stay with Amer. Standard or Trane quality with a suitable A-coil. other info: when we had the furnace put in, we went with a Honeywell VisionPRO IAQ t-stat, Calutech UV air purifier, and AprilAire 5000 E/S air filter. we like the idea of a heat pump, but need some guidance.

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Comments (4)

ryanhughes
16 years ago
Depending on your electrical vs. gas rates, a heat pump can save you money in the heating months by running efficiency down to below 30 degrees (though you may opt to have it switchover sooner as the air temperature won't be very warm).

If you plan on staying in the home for a while, I think 15 SEER is a good ballpark to look for. Both American Standard and Trane have 15 SEER heat pump models.

The IAQ thermostat is a good one to control a dual fuel system, but of course would need its settings adjusted from what they are presently set at.

Hard to get the tax credit since I don't think AHRI rates any combinations with that furnace anymore.

What in particular are you looking for input on? These are just some general remarks, but I'm happy to go into further detail as much as I can on anything specific.
john scott
Original Author
16 years ago
thx for the info. i am looking for input on which unit(s) to go with, i.e. model numbers and coils. also, is it worth going with 16 seer or higher? we are planning another 10 to 15 years year. i am also not seeing any tax credit, so that opens up my options a bit.
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tigerdunes
16 years ago
jmcqueen

HP

go with Am Std Heritage 15 or Trane's XL15i. evap coil selection depends on your application.

what size AC are you replacing?

IMO
neohioheatpump
16 years ago
Hi,
I'm in the cleveland ohio area. I"m a proponent of a heat pump. I just replaced my old a/c with a 15 seer single stage heatpump. I didn't replace the gas furnace cause I already had a 90% trane that was nice.

The heat pump shouldn't cost much more than straight a/c unless the contractor is charging lots of extra money as markup.

I've found that I'm saving money with the heat-pump over gas (and gas isn't expensive this year). You will save a ton of money if gas spikes high again. I would say a typically temperature switchover point from gas to heatpump is 30 degrees fahrenheit. I do 25 but thats not for everybody's likening.

At around 30 degrees the heat pump runs about 30 to 35 minutes of every hour. Don't let that scare you, your house is evenly heated and its cheap to run.

Consider going with honeywell focus pro thermostat. You will have the ability to change the set-point on when the system switches from gas to heatpump. It has a wireless thermometer that is outside.

I hope this helps.