Just thought I would through my .02 in here about heat pumps.
If you get one make sure to look at the newer
units with the R410A refrigerant vs the older
R22. For the time being, both are
available. Starting 1-1-2010, the R22 units will
no longer be made. The R-22 refrigerant will
still be available to service the older units.
The R410 is supposed to be more enviromentally
friendly. Usually that means subpar
performance. In this case, the new R410 does
better!. A friend of mine with an HVAC
businesss installed mine last Feb. I was his
guinea pig, the first R410 unit he installed. It
works great! The R410 has working pressures much
higher than the old systems and really puts out
the heat and air. The air coming out of the
vents in winter is every bit as hot as that from
a gas furnace. All heat pumps have supplemental
electric heat strips that come on when the
outside temp drops to a certain point. According
to my installer friend the R22 units came on at
390. My new R410 system doesn't turn them on
until 260 The a/c works great too. It runs a
little while and cuts off. It spends more time
off than on and easily keeps the house at 720,
even when it's upper 90's outside. I'm in
higher elevation NE Alabama and the average
winter night temps are low-mid 20's with a few
nights in the single digit and low
teens. Summers are hot with upper 90's,
numerous low 100's and very high humidity.
My unit is a 3 ton Rheem 14 SEER. It replaced my
old York 2.5 ton 8 SEER. My home is all electric
and it's saving me around around $1.75/day on my
electrci bill. Cost was around $4300 for a unit
changeout. IE: all the duct work was in place,
included the unit, new concrete pad for it to sit
on, new electronic thermostat and minor duct work
to adapt the new unit to my old duct work. The
only drawback (not really a drawback for me) is
that the R410 uses larger cooling/heating
coils. The physical size of the unit is easily
50% larger than my old one, even though it's only .5 ton larger.
David Cole
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