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Heat pump debate with my neighbor - was he right about keeping the old furnace?
My neighbor Tom told me last winter to keep my 20-year-old gas furnace as backup when I installed a heat pump. He said the heat pump wouldn't cut it below 20 degrees here in Minnesota. After that cold snap in January where it hit -5 for a week, my heat pump struggled big time and the backup strips kicked on like crazy on my electric bill. For those of you who made the switch, did you ditch your old system entirely or keep a backup?
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the_jason3d ago
My electric bill after that -5 week looked like I was paying for my neighbor's house too. Tom 100% called it, I owe that guy a beer or three. Honestly keeping the old furnace as backup is the smart move up here unless you enjoy watching your wallet cry during winter. The heat pump does fine for like 90% of the season but that 10% is brutal without backup. I'd say buy Tom a 12 pack and tell him he was right.
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zarab243d ago
Man, Tom absolutely called it. I kept my old gas furnace too and after that -5 week here in Wisconsin I was so glad I did. My heat pump couldn't keep up at all and the auxiliary heat strips would've made my electric bill look like a mortgage payment. The thing is the heat pump handles 95% of the winter just fine but that 5% of extreme cold is brutal without something solid backing it up. Honestly I think the electric bill savings the rest of the year makes up for keeping the old furnace around even if it just sits there most of the time.
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keithbennett2d ago
Saw a report from some energy lab out in Colorado that basically said the same thing, something like heat pumps lose about 50% of their heating capacity once you get down around zero. Makes sense why my neighbor's backup strips were running nonstop last winter, I think he said his December bill hit almost $600. The math on keeping the old gas furnace just works better for us in the upper midwest, even if it feels a little wasteful having two systems sitting there.
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tarag282d ago
Huh, I see it a little different though. My heat pump handled that -5 week okay here in Minnesota, but I tweaked the lockout settings so it doesn't try to run if it's below 10 degrees and the gas furnace takes over automatically. @zarab24 seems to have a similar setup but I just don't see the point in keeping a 20 year old furnace if yours is that old, better to swap for a newer one that works with the heat pump. Did you ever adjust your thermostat's balance point settings or just let the heat pump run itself?
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