Yes, agreed. Electric heat isn't efficient even if the heatpump is. Its the heater strips that really start to add up in terms of energy usage. There has been a number of products offered in the past for owners of heatpumps that were to help combat the problem. However, most didn't really save any money and in fact ended up costing more. There was one device that was basically a heater strip that ran at a lower voltage as compared to the regular strips you'd find and it ran all the time and its purpose was to warm the air coming out of the airhandler. This was to take the temp up enough so you felt slightly warmer air from the vents. The units of today have admitedly gotten better, but still they are only good to 30 to 40 degrees F as far as I can tell. Of course keeping cost down has always been a concern and conserving as much as possible, but now with the rates going up, I'm looking to save as much as possible.
Scott [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Aug 27, 2007, at 10:29 PM, Geoff Eden wrote: > It's probably useful to take a broad look at the efficiency of > electric > heat. Considering that running a coal generator is only slightly > above 30% > efficiency, hence throwing away 70%. Then considering the line loss > between > the generator plant and your home, which is often discussed as > around 10%. > Then to further discuss the inefficiency of electrical resistance > heating, > which, I understand is only about 35%, then the whole picture of > electrical > heating fuel waste comes into perspective. > > Geoff > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Scott Howell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Monday, August 27, 2007 6:16 PM > Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] What Do You Want Information ON? > > > So, lets add anothr question to this. Does it make sense to lower the > temp at night in the home or leave it set at the same temp day and > night? The thought is by lowering it 3 to 4 degrees at night while > your asleep, it would run less, but then if the heatpump has to fire > up the backup heat source which is likely electric itself and run at > the same time to raise the temp up the 3 to 4 degrees, have you really > saved anything. > > Scott > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > On Aug 27, 2007, at 11:21 AM, Dan Rossi wrote: > >> Actually, I think that a heat pump is supposed to be more efficient >> than >> just straight electric heat, but not exactly sure how it works out >> that >> way. >> >> -- >> Blue skies. >> Dan Rossi >> Carnegie Mellon University. >> E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Tel: (412) 268-9081 >> >> > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From > Various > List Members At The Following address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ > > Visit the archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > If you would like to join the Blind Computing list, then visit the > following > address for more information: > http://jaws-users.com/mailman/listinfo/blind-computing_jaws-users.com > > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy > Man list > just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://acbradio.org/handyman.html > or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From > Various List Members At The Following address: > http://www.jaws-users.com/handyman/ > > Visit the archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > If you would like to join the Blind Computing list, then visit the > following address for more information: > http://jaws-users.com/mailman/listinfo/blind-computing_jaws-users.com > > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy > Man list just send a blank message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > >
