WHICH IS CHEAPER WOOD PELLETS OR A HEAT PUMP TO OPERATE

[control1]

Interesting piece from Boston tv saying with this new heat pump you can heat and cool ones house for less than $900 per year.If this is true burning pellets makes no sense.What you all say. Link attached


http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mul..._could_save_70_on_heating_bill.htm?seek=0.359

 

[smokinj]

Interesting piece from Boston tv saying with this new heat pump you can heat and cool ones house for less than $900 per year.If this is true burning pellets makes no sense.What you all say. Link attached


http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mul..._could_save_70_on_heating_bill.htm?seek=0.359

Huh?

 

[DiggerJim]

Interesting piece from Boston tv saying with this new heat pump you can heat and cool ones house for less than $900 per year.If this is true burning pellets makes no sense.What you all say. Link attached


http://www.thebostonchannel.com/mul..._could_save_70_on_heating_bill.htm?seek=0.359

Interesting but its real performance (pricewise) is going to be highly dependent on the cost of electricity. The TV clip is actually about someone who thinks they'll save 46% - a long shot from 70%. The 70% is calculated on the total cost of heating & cooling so you've also got to be a heavy air conditioner user to achieve the numbers being claimed. They also make a big deal about it working to -30...but that's because something called "Mode 4" kicks in which is the dual compressor plus an electric resistance heater starting at 10 F. That's not any different magic than most heat pumps and will ratchet up the costs in a hurry if you're in a place like Connecticut with 18.5 cents/kwh electric.

The technology marries a traditional heat pump with another compressor - the second one creates a lower temp microclimate in the heat pump so it's 10F lower temp than the outside air - that means it can grab heat from the air even in low temps...the rest of the story though is the cost of running that second compressor and I didn't see that spiked out real well.

Be interesting to see where this goes, but it's not a reason to run out and buy a $15,000 heat pump yet.

 

[ResOps]

Here's the specs on 2 of the units:
http://www.gotohallowell.com/assets/Acadia_Spec_SheetLR.pdf
the biggest unit produces 46K btu's @ 0 deg F. It's currently -27F here this morning. Theres a test! ;-)
And also with smart meters and 'peak vs off peak' kwh costs these cost savings would realistically be lower as use would occurr during the day on peak hours.