Did your heating system limp through another winter? If so, now is the time to replace your system with a reliable, comfortable heating and cooling system. With the high fuel costs we have had to deal with over the last few years, it has become obvious that no longer can we continue heating our homes with inefficient systems, its not just a few dollars, its hundreds of dollars going out the exhaust. If you cannot hold your hand on your exhaust pipe, your system falls under that category. That is heat you are paying to create, being sent out into the atmosphere. Today’s high efficient gas furnaces have many ways to keep that exhaust temperature low, which in turn makes them very efficient. They use gas valves with a low fire mode, high fire mode, some even modulate. They use a secondary heat exchanger to lower exhaust temperatures, which drop exhaust temperatures to around 100 degrees, versus inefficient systems which have a much higher exhaust temperature, up to 400+ degrees. Then, you have the heat pump. Heat pumps have come a long way in the last 10 years, and even in our frozen tundra, we can take advantage of the heat pumps highly efficient way of producing heat. The ultimate heating system for our area would be a forced air heat pump system, with a 2 stage high efficiency fossil fuel (natural gas or propane) serving as the backup source of heat. This system will have a thermostat that will automatically shut off the heat pump when a predetermined outdoor temperature (setup by our installers), and turn on your fossil fuel heat source. Most homes, properly insulated, will be comfortably heated with an outdoor temperature of around 18 degrees. Below are some valid examples of what you pay to heat your home. Electric resistance heat facts: Price per KWH= .10 cents per KWH Heat content per KWH =3,413 BTU Efficiency of system =100% BTU created per $1 = 34,130 BTU Fuel oil facts: Price per gallon $3.25 Heat content per gallon = 139,600 Efficiency of system = 82% BTU created per $1 = 37,203 BTU Propane facts: Price per gallon = $2.00 Heat content per gallon = 91,600 BTU Efficiency of system = 82% BTU created per $1= 37,556 BTU Propane facts: Price per gallon = $2.00 Heat content per gallon = 91,600 BTU Efficiency of system = 95% BTU created per $1=43,510 BTU Natural gas facts: Price per therm = $1.50 Heat content per therm = 100,000 BTU Efficiency of system = 82% BTU created per $1=54,667 BTU Natural gas facts: Price per therm = $1.50 Heat content per therm = 100,000 BTU Efficiency of system = 95% BTU created per $1=63,333 BTU Heat Pump facts: Heat content per KWH=3,413 BTU Price per KWH= .10 cents per KWH Efficiency of system = 3.0 (C.O.P.) BTU created per $1=107,778 BTU What does C.O.P. mean? Coefficient of Performance or COP is the most common measurement used to rate heat pumps efficiency. COP is the ratio of the heat pump's BTU heat output to the BTU electrical input. Conventional electric resistance heaters have a COP of 1.0, meaning it takes one watt of electricity to deliver the heat equivalent of one watt. Air-source heat pumps generally have COPs of 2 to 4; they deliver two to four times more energy than they consume. The COP of air-source heat pumps decrease as the outside temperature drops. Therefore, two COP ratings are usually given for a system: one at 47 and the other at 17. When comparing COPs, make sure ratings are based on the same outside air temperature. What does HSPF mean? HSPF (Heating Season Performance Factor) is the estimated seasonal heating output in BTUs divided by the seasonal power consumption in watts. It can be thought of as the "average COP" for the entire heating season. An HSPF of 6.8 corresponds roughly with an average COP of 2. HSPFs of 5, 6, or 7 are considered good. What does SEER mean? SEER is the total cooling of the heat pump in BTUs divided by the total electrical energy input in watt-hours during the same period. Naturally, the SEER for a unit will vary depending on where in the country it is located. SEERs of 8, 9 or 10 are considered good. What does EER mean? Energy Efficiency Ratio, or EER, is used for evaluating a heat pump's efficiency in the cooling cycle. It is the same rating system used for air conditioners, making it easy to compare different units. EER is the number of BTUs of cooling provided per watt of electricity consumed. EER ratings of greater than 10 are the most desirable. COP and EER measurements are based on laboratory tests and do not necessarily measure how the heat pump performs in actual use. A heat pump's performance will vary depending on the weather and how much supplementary heat is required. Therefore, a more realistic measurement, especially for air-to-air heat pumps, is calculated on a seasonal basis. These measurements are referred to as the Heating Season Performance Factor (HSPF) for the heating cycle and the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) for the cooling cycle.