I have a 10 year old 10 seer Carrier Heat pump to cool and heat my 1946 ranch style home. I have remodeled it to make more energy effecient. The outside had abestos siding which I nailed furring strips over and put 3/4" foam insualtion that has the foil glued to it. Over this went Wolverine vinyl siding. The attic has 12" blown in insulations. The crawl space is the only space not insulated. New enery effecient wood windows, tankless hot water system. Yet my electric bill the last two years has skyrocketed to over $200.00 per month. My neihbor who has done nothing to his house has an electric bill that is almost half of what my is. I thought the meter was bad and had it changed out. No difference. So I figure it has to be the A/C so I am looking at a Trane xi19 So I need some feed back on the best energy effecient for my money. The goverment site on energy effecient says the lennox is tops but it comes with a $5400 price tag for a 3 1/2 ton. Feed back for those who work with A/C all the time would be great Thanks Dan
Dan, Before throwing out your 10 year old heat pump, lets look at some related issues that might help decrease your electric bill. First, how often do you have your heat pump and backup heating source serviced? You need to have them professionally cleaned and serviced each year. Second, where is your duct system located? Is it in the crawspace or in the attic? In either location all of your ductwork should be insulated and sealed completely. Uninsulated and unsealed ductwork can cost you loads of money, there is no sense in heating/cooling your crawspace or attic. Third, is your duct system designed properly? You probably will not know how to determine this but a proper ductwork design is critical to the efficiency of any forced air system. I look at homes everyday that have improper duct designs that not only cost homeowners money but also create comfort problems. I would recommend that you have a HVAC contractor come out and look at your duct system. However, don't just pickup the phonebook and dial the first HVAC contractor you see, be certian that the person is experienced in proper duct design methods. I would probably search the ACCA website (http://www.acca.org) or the NATE website (http://www.natex.org) to find a HVAC contractor. This is no guarantee to their ability but its a starting point.
The ducts run in the attic. The duct that comes out of the unit is square 1' x 1' and runs the length of the attic. It runs along the front of the house in the attic and has about 6" between the duct and the bottom of the rafter. It is galvinized steel. Then off of this they have run 8" diameter duct to each room. The ducts are all sealed and are not leaking, I checked. The square duct was not insulated so I boxed around it with 3/4" foam and then covered that with 6" insulation. The previous unit was a combo diseal heater and A/C. I had it replaced with the heat pump. Thanks for the information I will have someone come out and check out the duct layout before I replace the unit.
