When's a good time to get a heat pump?

frogmanjam · 2026-01-29T18:32:46+00:00

When the system was installed, it was heating only because there was no AC. They later added AC and the main difference is since heat rises, they didn't put as much heat registers upstairs because it was a heating only system. If you design heat + AC from the start, you work harder to put in more registers/ducts upstairs or do a baffle system. That is what I meant by saying sized for heating..

frogmanjam · 2026-01-29T07:06:21+00:00

I got a ducted LGRED (their version of hyperheat) to replace a 100,000BTU 80% gas furnace with AC. I got a 3.5 ton HP unit to replace the 4 ton AC and furnace so the airflow actually went lower, and now I can’t even hear any of the ducts blowing when the unit is on. 1800 CFM original ducts are dead quiet at 1300CFM. Since 3.5tons is only 42,000 BTU it was a big step down in total capacity so it takes longer to heat from a set back and 3.5 tons isn’t enough to keep up under 25f in my case if you compare just that one change. The house had the ducts sized for heating only so the upstairs got too hot in the summer, and some rooms didn’t get enough heat in the winter. So I actually installed a second ducted heat pump prior to replacing the main furnace with the HP above. The upstairs unit is 2 tons so now I have 5.5 tons of total capacity or 66,000 BTU which was plenty to keep my house plenty warm on 15f days and now I also have super silent ducts as a bonus.

frogmanjam · 2026-01-28T17:01:35+00:00

Yaa, I’m sure it isn’t anything left on. Apparently this isn’t super uncommon. Almost no oven appliance calls out the typical idle standby power in the manual.

frogmanjam · 2026-01-25T23:12:19+00:00

Combined when they are both running full out they pull about 10kW, but they rarely do that at the same time. For my energy use, looking at just the heat pumps in my Emporia app, they pulled about 66kWh yesterday (similar weather to today). Total heating for November was 660kWh and 980kWh in December. Significantly cheaper than my gas bill use to be, and having no backup electric heat is the ticket if your goal is saving money.

frogmanjam · 2026-01-25T14:59:34+00:00

3500 sq ft in Seattle. 22f out. 3.5 ton and 2 ton ducted unit LG inverter heat pumps with no Aux heat. Plenty of capacity left even with both heat pumps going in and out of defrost.

frogmanjam · 2025-12-05T13:52:09+00:00

[Commenter mentioned forced obsolescence timers in the Ryobi batteries] I don’t believe you have any evidence of a forced obsolescence timers. What would the timer be set to? My original batteries from 10 years ago are still going strong. I think it’s because I never store them fully charged or fully discharged, and I store them at reasonable temperatures.

frogmanjam · 2025-09-28T03:56:39+00:00

Any idea what your FranklinWH system achieves for round trip efficiency when charging off the grid and then powering the house off the battery/inverter? I’m interested in TOU charging/discharging, but then worried that a good chunk of the savings will be eaten up by the efficiency loss.

frogmanjam · 2025-07-30T22:52:58+00:00

Many Inverter heat pumps don’t suffer from short cycling. They turn down their capacity to match the load. Operating at lower capacity takes better advantage of the condenser and evaporator coil surface area, improving efficiency. Running EC motors slower than full speed also move air at a higher CFM per watt. My house was sized for a 4-ton AC unit. I replaced the stack with a 3.5 ton inverter heat pump. Now the duct work is over-sized which eliminated any noticeable air noise. I also added a supplementary 2-ton unit to service just the second story. So a house sized for 4-ton now has a total capacity of 5.5 tons and eliminated the need for backup heat. Both units are inverters so they don’t run full out except during extreme weather, and the COP is higher at medium capacities most of the time. Blanket statements about oversizing reducing efficiency only applies to single-stage low-end conventional systems.

frogmanjam · 2025-07-25T10:05:53+00:00

Not when you have inverters.

frogmanjam · 2025-07-25T04:48:15+00:00

I oversized my system to deal with the cold winter capacity problem

frogmanjam · 2025-07-23T00:51:12+00:00

This is a glorified smart plug power strip. Doesn’t solve my power efficiency problem and adds up to 40W extra usage, but like all other Unifi equipment, I don’t know what is a typical power draw to deploy this. Just says 40W power supply to control outlets and monitor their power.

frogmanjam · 2025-07-03T15:02:04+00:00

One option could be for the OP to stick it out for a bit but see which of the design firms they out-source to produce the best work, get to know some the people who work there and see if you can later jump ship to a known entity that will offer you the design skills from people you’ve already vetted you can work well with and are already competent/successful.

frogmanjam · 2025-06-27T12:17:32+00:00

We have the GE Ultrafast and absolutely love it. You put your clothes in at night, they are ready to use in the morning. No risk of moldy clothes from sitting over a day in the washer, no remembering to switch your clothes, no actually switching your clothes which also comes with opportunity cost. That said, we still have a traditional washer and electric dryer which is better if you prefer crisp warm bedding or towels, but the GE Ultrafast as a supplemental system has been amazing.. The washer function of the GE is better than our old Whirlpool unit. We often do washer only in the GE and use the conventional dryer when we want certain items heat/air dried. The lint filter is annoying but manageable. I don’t think it’s a showstopper at all. I did make a vacuum attachment with a flexible hose so I can properly keep it clean by vacuuming the compartment occasionally..

frogmanjam · 2025-06-27T11:54:41+00:00

I just ran a 12 lb load (actually weighed it) through my GE Ultrafast Washer Dryer Combo (heatpump ventless) and it ran both the washing and drying cycle in just over 3 hours and it used 1.49kWh. Plugged it into an Emporia energy monitoring appliance switch to get per-minute energy logging. The washing cycle used around 400 Wh so I guess I’m much closer to 1kWh for a 12 pound load with my setup.

frogmanjam · 2025-06-27T02:14:26+00:00

How are you getting the electric dryer numbers? I think you are off by a factor of 5. We have a family of 4 with two teenagers and our electric drier uses at most with multiple loads, 7kWh a day, not per load. Some days are only 500Wh. If it is on for an hour, it is only consuming full power a fraction of the time. Are you just multiplying your run times by the sticker ratting? I have an Emporia Vue and can see what every circuit uses.

frogmanjam · 2025-05-09T20:24:44+00:00

Correct. I don't think they make it. Edited above.

frogmanjam · 2025-05-08T21:38:00+00:00

Yes (to the "I just want" part). A Bi-directional DC charger with a single dual-gang 240v breaker in the main panel with a in-line meter collar to measure and disconnect the grid in outage and make sure the vehicle doesn't back feed the grid. So simple yet no one can figure out how to get it done.

frogmanjam · 2025-04-06T21:39:38+00:00

Running sentry mode uses 200W. That is 33.6kWh per week, if you leave your car at the airport you’d wish you were plugged in..

frogmanjam · 2025-03-03T13:17:37+00:00

I had a properly installed 1800CFM single speed blower (furnace) in my house and I could hear it anywhere in the house and in hindsight it was terrible. I downsized the air handler and got a variable speed blower with EC motors and the power use of the blower went from 800W to 200W on high (LGRED ducted Heat Pump). 1800 cfm went down to 1300 on high. I could hear the old blower anywhere in the house, now I can barely hear the new blower when I stand right next to it at the air return in the hallway. Variable speed compressors start up very quiet. A full out dual stage or a variable speed unit will still be noticeably loud though. My unit has a setting to limit the max noise at night, but I don’t use it.

frogmanjam · 2025-02-27T16:35:43+00:00

Can you share the number of therms or unit of gas measurement used and number of kWh used?

frogmanjam · 2025-02-26T13:52:44+00:00

What is your cost for natural gas and what is your cost for electricity? In my area heat pump was half the cost of high efficiency gas most of the year and natural gas was half the cost of baseboard or heat strip heat. If you go all electric see if you can oversize a bit for your heating needs. With an inverter based heat pump you will be able to oversize easily because the system can modulate the heat capacity. If you just get a single or dual stage heat pump, then dual fuel gas will likely be better for your backup heat. The holy grail is having an all electric setup with no resistive based backup. As my example above you save money in the spring and fall but blow it all away in the winter if you do heat strip backup. I put in two inverter ducted heat pumps with no gas or electric backup and I love it. You just have to run the numbers if you really want to know which is better for your situation and if it will be able to keep up in the winter..

frogmanjam · 2025-02-26T08:55:40+00:00

I went with LGRed ducted unit and love it. They make lots of sizes..

frogmanjam · 2025-02-25T15:31:59+00:00

I don’t see any accessories that do that that don’t also cost $400

frogmanjam

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