DIYbanter - View Single Post - My electrician is coming Thurs to install an additional 100Asubpanel, and

Ralph Mowery

In article ,
says...

You're in NC right? Sounds about right. By the time you get to NJ,
they really aren't viable. 3 ton is 36K BTU, my furnace is 120K.
I have a 5 ton AC, which would be 60K BTUS, too small, which is
why they have backup resistance heat and that would come into play
too much here. I wonder where they mostly disappear? North of DC?

Right, in the middle of NC.

Heat pumps work very well here. If I lived much north of here I would
probably install a heatpump if installing an AC. I doubt the cost would
be much different. They are about the same thing with a reversing valve.
Use it on the days it was above say around 25 to 30 deg F and switch to
some other type of heat when it got colder.

I am talking about the air type HP and not the ones that have coils in
the earth or wells.

The resistance heat that comes on when it is much below 25 F starts to
be very costly in many areas.

I don't know where the heat pumps start to dissapear,but there are
charts that show how cold and hot it is on the average over the US.
From this you can tell if the HP makes sense for the area.

The HP is often sized for AC. You want a unit that will run long enough
to take the humidity out of the air. That can make ballancing the HP
size somewhat difficult, especially where you would need a big one to
heat the house in a nothern climite.