Author Topic: Heat Pump Question  (Read 2015 times)

K Frame

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #25 on: December 03, 2019, 02:30:48 PM »
"kinda connected to each other, are past a small hall that somehow is really good about blocking heat distribution."

Box fan. Play around with where it's located. You'll find the sweet spot.
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K Frame

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #26 on: December 03, 2019, 02:34:53 PM »
"I might try setting it to full time on for a while to see if it makes a difference."

And what, pray tell, is the purpose of a fan connected to a duct work system that is designed to distribute conditioned air?

It's designed to keep the air in the house moving around to increase comfort... It doesn't matter exactly how that air is conditioned... if the fan is on, it will move it through the duct work.

Does it move air when it's off?

Jesus wept, Dude!  :facepalm:
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Ben

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #27 on: December 03, 2019, 02:44:36 PM »
Well, there appear to be pros and cons:

https://trusthomesense.com/blog/pros-cons-continuously-running-hvac-fan/

I just checked, and my thermostat has the "circulate" function. I might try that. Having the fan on all the time seems like it will give me the same feeling as when the heat pump is on - while it may be circulating warmish air, the blowing air may feel cool to me. If I can set it to circulate for a set time every hour, that might be a good compromise.

I have dedicated air filtration units in the house, so  I don't need to run an HVAC fan for air cleaning.
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charby

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #28 on: December 03, 2019, 03:22:02 PM »
Well, there appear to be pros and cons:

https://trusthomesense.com/blog/pros-cons-continuously-running-hvac-fan/

I just checked, and my thermostat has the "circulate" function. I might try that. Having the fan on all the time seems like it will give me the same feeling as when the heat pump is on - while it may be circulating warmish air, the blowing air may feel cool to me. If I can set it to circulate for a set time every hour, that might be a good compromise.

I have dedicated air filtration units in the house, so  I don't need to run an HVAC fan for air cleaning.

No, it will help balance out the warm and cold areas of the house. I flip my furnace fan to continuously on when its below 10 degrees or above 95F. I find it more uncomfortable when the air isn't moving between the furnace or air-conditioning cycling during extreme weather events.

Also if your wood stove doesn't get fresh air from outside for the firebox, it has to draw air from somewhere. Cold air is drawn through all the micro leaks around doors and windows, making the farthest rooms feeling even colder.  
« Last Edit: December 03, 2019, 03:40:41 PM by charby »
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K Frame

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #29 on: December 03, 2019, 06:09:02 PM »
On circulate your fan should only run at quarter speed or so, not the same speed as when the unit is in heating or cooling mode.

You shouldn't notice circulation mode at all.

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Ben

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #30 on: December 03, 2019, 07:08:03 PM »
On circulate your fan should only run at quarter speed or so, not the same speed as when the unit is in heating or cooling mode.

You shouldn't notice circulation mode at all.

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So far I haven't. It's up to the mid 30s right now, so I didn't have the stove on today. When it's just the central running, it actually distributes the heat pretty evenly - better than any HVAC I've had in the past. The test will be when I do the "heat by wood stove only" thing. I think I'll be a fan of "circulate mode" though.
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K Frame

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #31 on: December 04, 2019, 07:43:47 AM »
"https://trusthomesense.com/blog/pros-cons-continuously-running-hvac-fan/"

Wow... I knew leaving the fan on my air handler run 24x7 used electricity, but I didn't realize it had the potential to use quite that much electricity.

I'm thinking I'm going to try a bit of an experiment. I'm going to turn the fan to the auto position for a month, and monitor my electrical usage and the temperature distribution and differentials.

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Ben

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #32 on: December 04, 2019, 08:21:55 AM »
"https://trusthomesense.com/blog/pros-cons-continuously-running-hvac-fan/"

Wow... I knew leaving the fan on my air handler run 24x7 used electricity, but I didn't realize it had the potential to use quite that much electricity.

That threw me too. It actually sounds abnormally high. Or else they used numbers from a state with high electricity costs. My entire bill last month was $90, so their number would be more than a 50% increase just running the fan. Potentially another plus for "circulate" I guess.

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K Frame

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #33 on: December 04, 2019, 09:17:24 AM »
My bill for November was $88.85 with a usage of 605 KwHR. That would have been higher, probably closer to 900-1000 KwHr, had I been using the heat pump.

I'm on budget billing, which smooths out the bill to the same amount every month, which right now is $108.99. I should be able to cut that quite a bit by not using the heat pump.


My lowest bill over the last year was 508 KwHR in April, but I was away for 2 weeks of that billing period. It would have been even lower had I turned my water heater either to vacation mode or completely off. I didn't realize I was going to be away that long, so I didn't.

This weekend I'm going to go through the house and kill all of the 'phantom' power draws that I can; things like the TV in the basement, the clock radios in rooms I don't use that much, etc., the computer in my office, which I only use on weekends, etc. Between those and the fan on the air handler, I'm thinking I might be able to drop another 50-100 KwHr off my usage.

That's going to be a 1 or 2 month experiment. We'll see how it works out.
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Ben

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #34 on: December 04, 2019, 09:40:54 AM »
My bill for November was $88.85 with a usage of 605 KwHR. That would have been higher, probably closer to 900-1000 KwHr, had I been using the heat pump.


I was a bit over 1000kWh. It was actually slightly more usage than in August, which was peak AC season here, and when I had guests additionally using the split AC system upstairs. However besides the house, I've also got heat to the wellhouse running on a thermostat timer, which ends up using a good bit of juice. And these portable oil heaters use a good bit more electricity than a fan does in the Summer. :)

I had made some notes on days I used the wood stove most of the day, and looking at those days on the power company website, they were pretty significant usage reductions.
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Jim147

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #35 on: December 05, 2019, 09:09:13 PM »
A change over point around here from 26-28 degrees is very common. Using the wood stove with the fan may feel cool in some rooms but so does a heatpump to me. Nick and Ron always have some good answers on these topics. And Mike seems to know about everything. Haha.
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K Frame

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #36 on: December 06, 2019, 07:50:55 AM »
"And Mike seems to know about everything. Haha."

Bow before my VFUK (vast fund of useless knowledge), peasant!
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Jim147

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #37 on: December 06, 2019, 06:17:23 PM »
Love you Mike
Sometimes we carry more weight then we owe.
And sometimes goes on and on and on.

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K Frame

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Re: Heat Pump Question
« Reply #38 on: December 06, 2019, 10:20:19 PM »
Keep it in your pants...

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