Location?

New Jersey

Do you have access to natural gas? If not, what is you electric rate?

Natural gas would cost $54,000 to extend 600' down the street to my house. Electric is about $.19 per kilowatt hour.

Just a few observations.

GreenSpeed or Bryant Extreme(same) would work well for you.

My advice is get pricing on a high end air source HP like Trane/AmStd and then compare to Bryant Extreme/Carrier GreenSpeed. You have to decide if you can justify the difference.

And for a 3 ton system, you definitely don't need a 20 KW heat strip, 15 KW max and it should be staged, perhaps two 7.5 KWs.

What is propane cost/gal?

Plus thorough ductwork inspection.

IMO

Has the heat pump been serviced lately? You should not be spending $900 for one month of heating for a 1800 sq. foot house. The heat pump may be low on refrigerant or the auxiliary strips are on constantly.

If you live in or near Mercer county I can send you the name of a Carrier dealer I have used if you are interested.

I was serviced yesterday. All vitals were fine. The contractor said nothing is wrong with it... I think I should swap out my 20KW backup heater with something smaller like 10KW. Any thoughts?

I live in Hamilton, NJ in Mercer County.

If you are considering new HP whether Carrier Greenspeed or high eff conventional HP, I would not change heat strip with smaller size without another opinion. Something is wrong with your current system with electric bills that high.

IMO

And i agree with tiger,make certain the present equipment and ducts are working effeciently before slangling $$$$ at it. The best system in the country will be an enegery hog if ducts have problems, coils are dirty or a list of other things.

Mike, how do I email you? My email address is darbmiller at gmail.com

On a warm day like today where it has been upper 30s to 50s degrees the auxiliary hasn't come on once. But as soon as it gets into the low 30s/ upper 20s, its all Aux, all the time.

Brad, I think you need a complete analysis of what is going on in your house. We have a very old heat pump and the Aux only starts to come on when it gets to the teens and even then only intermittently. We used 2691 kwhrs last bill in the Washington DC area. . At no temp, even down to zero have I observed the Aux on continuously. We have a 1983 house, 1800 sq ft, 3 ton heat pump. Aux control is from an antique mechanical thermostat.

One thing about your original post caught my eye. You have a 3 ton heat pump and a five ton fan coil. Do you know the history of that odd arrangement? I have concerns that such a configuration cannot be charged properly especially for heat which tends to be more demanding. How are your A/C bills? What temp do you set in the winter?

AC was fine. $150ish a month. Winter though is almost $900. Thermostat is set for 64-66. I paid for a service call on Sunday and was told all vitals are fine. @40°F outdoor temp: Head 270 PSI, common suction 78psi, sub cooling 21°F, 105°F at register. He said all refrigerant levels were fine.

I have a Honeywell TH6220D1002 thermostat.

Heat pump is an Arcoaire HXH536GKA100 with a FVM4X6000A1 airhandler (20KW heat package).

Brad,

I sent you an email. You should be able to send me a message by clicking on my profile name and pressing the message button. I have not tried this with the new forum so I don't how well it works.

A temperature of 64-66 and a high heating bill does not add up. I know our local electric rate is high ($0.18/KWh), and it has been a very cold winter, but it still does not add up.

I'm not one of the experts here, but it seems to me that you are either pulling our legs or are very easy on your contractor. Such a high cost is obviously evidence of a problem. If a contractor told me my unit was OK with such a ridiculous energy usage, I would write him off and seek someone that could and would figure out the problem. Why have you not done so? No need to consult people whose only solution is an expensive new unit, they are either too dumb to figure out the problem or are just trying to milk you for as much as they can. IMHO

I have other contractors lined up, as well, but service calls add up.

Update. I didn't replace my heat pump, but I had a home energy audit performed and about $8k in Home Energy Performance work (insulation, etc) and another $6k on new windows. I also had a Carrier Cor thermostat installed that lets me set an AUX heat lockout temperature and and lots of other tweaks. It's hard to compare since this past December we had days in the 70s and it was more like a typical New Jersey October than a December, but my electric bill was 50% lower than last December.

20 KW heat strip is absurd, should be 2 7.5 KW modules staged. 15 KW would yield around 50 KBTUs. Remember you still are producing around 18 KBTUs from your HP condenser itself at 17 degrees fah.

IMO

was replacing windows part of the recommendation from audit?

in my 15+ years I've never recommended a window change out.

an at best 14% overall performance increase, usually around 7-10%.

big price for small improvement, plus the 30 year roi.

tell us more about your audit & work that was done.

Above poster is correct...these so called dbl pane high eff window replacements are quite expensive and do not come close on a reasonable ROI despite what the sellers want you to believe...look nice though especially against those storm windows plus easier to clean...just had to replace 4 of 27 of mine due to failure of seal...thank goodness warranty took care of that...

IMO

+2

Bang on regarding window upgrades!

IMPO

SR

The windows were not part of the energy audit, nor were they funded through my office of clean energy rebate. I had windows with broken seals and a window with a broken sash so they needed to be replaced. The original windows were not insulated very well around the framing (not even a barrier underneath) either so having these new construction windows installed fixed that. I also had an uninsulated drafty door from the kitchen into my garage replaced with an exterior door.

My home energy audit got me into the Tier 4 category for ~20% improvement. The work included air ceiling of the entire attic, 10 inches of blown cellulose in the attic flats, 2" poly iso on all knee walls, and a new heatpump water heater to replace my 15 year old electric water heater. When they did the blower door test at the end apparently the house was too tight and they needed to add a fresh air intake.

Also it turns out I have two 7.5 kW heat strips for a total of 15 kW. Apparently the original installer ( for the previous owner) who told me he installed a 20 was misinformed. When I look up the model number the associated heat package could be anywhere from 5 to 20.

Unfortunately the new contractor that did my HVAC work was unable to wire two strips as separate stages. So it's still only operating in one stage in auxiliary.

Would having that wired as two stages provide me any improvement in energy savings?

glad to know the window replacement wasn't recommended by auditor.

how are you liking the hp water heater? most of my clients

opt for this & really enjoy the benefits & savings.

while I'll defer to tigerdunes...staging the heat strips is a good idea imho.

td..20+ windows! glad your warranty kicked in on the ones you replaced!

I like the heat pump water heater because it also dehumidifies my basement in the process of heating water. Plus since it was part of the energy improvement work the State pays the interest on my loan for the work.

"in my 15+ years I've never recommended a window change out"

Energy_rater I am surprised you say this. The builder's grade windows are typically very leaky and low quality. You are an advocate of attic sealing but not window sealing? Is it the because of the high cost of new windows?