I currently have a central air condition / gas furnace combination unit that is 15 years old. The a coil for the AC has major leaks and cannot be repaired. Should I replace just the A coil and still have a 15 year old unit,put in new central A C, or put in a heat pump? The winter temps here are in the teens but I would have gas backup. How does a heat pump work? any reply will be appreciated!!!! Herb

On Friday, July 25, 2014 1:18:41 PM UTC-4, herb white wrote:
I currently have a central air condition / gas furnace combination unit that is 15 years old. The a coil for the AC has major leaks and cannot be repaired. Should I replace just the A coil and still have a 15 year old unit,put in new central A C, or put in a heat pump? The winter temps here are in the teens but I would have gas backup. How does a heat pump work? any reply will be appreciated!!!! Herb

A heat pump is very similar to the AC you already have, except that it
can be reversed, An AC is a heat pump too, it's just that it only pumps
in one direction. Heat gets pumped from the house outside. You have two
coils, one inside, one outside that serve as heat exchangers. To get heat,
the pump just works in the opposite direction.

If your winter temps get into the teens and you have nat gas available,
it's likely you can't beat the cost/performance of nat gas heat. Nat gas
is plentiful and usually the cheapest energy source. You can probably find
some energy calculators online that let you put in the cost of nat gas,
electric, etc and give you an idea. The other factor with a heat pump is
that when it's cold, the recovery time is going to be long and if you want
heat fast, you're going to have to go to gas or electric backup.

I guess it comes down to factors that we don't know. How much to just
replace the AC coils? Eff of old unit? Used a lot or a litte? Cost
of elec? Eff of existing furnace? If it were me, I'd probably be looking
at either fixing the existing one or a whole new gas furnace/AC. You
say you'd have nat gas furnace as backup, which I guess implies that you'd
be looking at a whole new dual fuel system, nat gas and heat pump?
Doesn't make sense to me when nat gas is cheap, unless you have some unusually
low elec rates.

On 7/25/2014 1:18 PM, herb white wrote:
I currently have a central air condition / gas
furnace combination unit that is 15 years old. The
a coil for the AC has major leaks and cannot be repaired.
Should I replace just the A coil and still have a 15
year old unit,put in new central A C, or put in a heat
pump? The winter temps here are in the teens but I
would have gas backup.
How does a heat pump work? any reply will
be appreciated!!!! Herb


We don't really have enough information. 15 year
old system is likely R-22. With what you wrote,
I'd be tempted to replace the A coil, and have the
outdoor unit professionally cleaned. You'll get
several more replies, and each will go in a different
direction.

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Christopher A. Young
Learn about Jesus
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On Fri, 25 Jul 2014 10:18:41 -0700 (PDT), herb white
wrote:

any reply will be appreciated!!!! Herb

Zaky Waky from Wichita - how you doin'?

On Fri, 25 Jul 2014 13:37:52 -0400, Stormin Mormon
wrote:

We don't really have enough information.

Which is best in Wichita, KS?

"herb white" wrote in message
...
I currently have a central air condition / gas furnace combination unit
that is 15 years old. The a coil for the AC has major leaks and cannot be
repaired. Should I replace just the A coil and still have a 15 year
old unit,put in new central A C, or put in a heat pump? The winter temps
here are in the teens but I would have gas backup.
How does a heat pump work? any reply will be appreciated!!!! Herb

I would go with the heat pump and gas backup. Put in a whole new heat pump
system so everything will work together. When the air temperature gets
around 25 deg or so the heat pump will loose efficency and that would be the
time to switch over to the gas heat. Idoubt the cost of a HP would be much
more than a simple AC.

A heat pump is nothing more than an aircondition system that is made to be
reversed. Just think of it like a window AC that you turn around when you
want heat. This is done by valves that change the direction of the
refrigerant flow, in simple terms.

On Friday, July 25, 2014 3:34:15 PM UTC-4, Ralph Mowery wrote:
"herb white" wrote in message

...

I currently have a central air condition / gas furnace combination unit

that is 15 years old. The a coil for the AC has major leaks and cannot be

repaired. Should I replace just the A coil and still have a 15 year

old unit,put in new central A C, or put in a heat pump? The winter temps

here are in the teens but I would have gas backup.

How does a heat pump work? any reply will be appreciated!!!! Herb



I would go with the heat pump and gas backup. Put in a whole new heat pump

system so everything will work together.

That would be a new hybrid heat pump/nat gas system, which isn't going
to be cheap. I don't see the need or the payback. Nat gas is cheap and
you can get 93%+ efficiency for not a lot of money. IDK where it's in
the teens in the winter and it's competitve to use a heat pump instead
of just burning the natural gas for heat.


When the air temperature gets

around 25 deg or so the heat pump will loose efficency and that would be the

time to switch over to the gas heat.


And before that it doesn't cost much at all to heat the house with nat
gas. I'd like to see him run a calculator and get back to us on the results.
Unless he has some super low electric rates, I don't see the advantage to the
heat pump. I do see a lot of drawbacks. He should also take a look around
and see what other folks are using in his area. Here in NJ, it gets down into
the teens in winter. IDK of a single home that uses an air source heat pump.
Not one. I do know of a couple of folks that put in geothermal heat pumps, but the
cost of that is maybe 3 or 4X and it will never pay for the up front cost
delta. Some of that was paid for by the sucker taxpayers, but even so, it will
never pay back. It's in the realm of the feel good tree hugging hippies.



Idoubt the cost of a HP would be much

more than a simple AC.


I bet it is more, because it has to be sized bigger to generate enough heat.
And what he really needs if he goes that route is a whole hybrid system and the cost of that is certainly going to be substantially more than a gas furnace
and AC.

On 7/25/2014 1:18 PM, herb white wrote:
I currently have a central air condition / gas furnace combination unit that is 15 years old.



Should I replace just the A coil and still have a 15 year old unit,put in new central A C, or put in a heat pump? The winter temps here are in the teens but I would have gas backup. How does a heat pump work? any reply will be appreciated!!!! Herb


Without knowing the numbers it is not possible to say for sure.
Replacing the coil is a crap shoot. You could get 10 more years, you
could get 10 more days before the compressor goes.

Just like a 15 year old car with a bad transmillion. Where do you stop
pouring money into repairs?

On Fri, 25 Jul 2014 17:55:38 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 7/25/2014 1:18 PM, herb white wrote:
I currently have a central air condition / gas furnace combination unit that is 15 years old.



Should I replace just the A coil and still have a 15 year old unit,put in new central A C, or put in a heat pump? The winter temps here are in the teens but I would have gas backup. How does a heat pump work? any reply will be appreciated!!!! Herb


Without knowing the numbers it is not possible to say for sure.
Replacing the coil is a crap shoot. You could get 10 more years, you
could get 10 more days before the compressor goes.

Just like a 15 year old car with a bad transmillion. Where do you stop
pouring money into repairs?
Well, a friend had trouble with his 2002 Grand Cherokee missbehaving
with 450000+km on it. The exhaust was noisy too. Wasn't sure what to
do. He had me test drive it - he thought the engine was cutting out
(and he was getting a random missfire code). I figured it was
transmission trouble (he had just had the fluid "flushed" at a lube
shop about 2 months ago, and it was over-full). I sent him to my
transmission guy who verified the throttle valve was hanging up
because of a rusted cable -he freed up the cable and did a proper
drain/flush of the transmission with the proper fluid and BG
conditioner - $300 total cost.
Then he still had a bit of a strange shift - found the TPS was flakey.
After the TPS was replaced it shifted like brand new. Virtually no
metal or brake material in the pan or filter. He had the exhaust
replaced and a front wheel bearing - total cost, including
Transmission- $1500 including taxes.

He took it home and replaced the spark plugs and rocker gasket -
figures it should be good for another 100,000km.

If the trans needed expensive repairs, it would have been time to bail
- and at most transmission shops it WOULD have been an expensive
transmission repair. They would have looked at the odometer and said
"rebuild".

herb white posted for all of us...

And I know how to SNIP


I currently have a central air condition / gas furnace combination unit that is 15 years old. The a coil for the AC has major leaks and cannot be repaired. Should I replace just the A coil and still have a 15 year old unit,put in new central A C, or put in a heat pump? The winter temps here are in the teens but I would have gas backup. How does a heat pump work? any
reply will be appreciated!!!! Herb

Times has this subject been asked and answered with the same results?

--
Tekkie