|
Posted by SteveF on October 19, 2006, 8:54 am
>>
>>> Don't shoot the messenger... What are the pros and cons of
>>> gas heating vs. total electric in new construction in West
>>> Texas? My thinking has been that electric heating is very expensive.
>>>
>>> Thanks!
>>>
>>
>> In terms of operating expense, electric RESISTANCE heating is very
>> expensive. If you are willing to spend money on the front end, a ground
>> source heat pump will generally give the lowest operating costs.
>>
>> Steve.
>>
>>
>
> True, more or less, but that wasn't the subject and parameters presented.
> Heat pumps depend on greater difference of temperature for greater
> performance. Not present in past 2 winters in W. Texas.
> If you're going to depend on geothermal subsoil difference temperature,
> might as well put the house underground.
> --
> Jonny
>
What did I miss that the subject was not "Gas heating versus total
electric"?
When I lived in Dallas, "West Texas" was everything west of Fort Worth so I
wouldn't know what the winter would be like where Bob plans to build since
he didn't narrow it down. Amarillo isn't exactly a place where people go in
January to escape the cold.
Not sure what you mean by "Heats pumps depend on greater difference of
temperature for greater performance." If you mean that they work better
when it is colder, that is incorrect. Heat pumps draw heat energy from a
source. 60 degree air has more heat energy than 30 degree air so the heat
pump creates warm air inside with less work when it is 60. As the outside
air gets colder the heat pump works harder and harder until it reaches the
"balance point". Below the balance point, heat pumps have "backup heating"
which means electric resistance. A house I owned previously got the Carrier
heat pump replaced, when it was apart I looked in the air handler and it
looked like a giant toaster. It was replaced with a heat pump and gas
furnace set up so thermostat kicked on the heat pump if it was above 45
degrees outside otherwise it kicked on the gas furnace. Ground source heat
pumps (GSHP) don't have this problem since the source temperature is a
fairly constant mid 50s. And the situation is exactly the same for a heat
pump trying to put heat energy from inside the house into warm air (less
work) versus hot air (more work).
GSHPs are expensive to install but have low operating costs, both in winter
and summer. Another option is a dual system like I had installed.
We'll let Bob price a GSHP versus the cost of burying the entire house.
Steve.
| 
Yahoo! 
Google 
Windows Live 
del.icio.us 
digg 
Netscape 
XML Sitemap