Heat-Pump + Aux + baseboards, and programmable thermostats.

[bercy46]

Hi,

I live in Montreal Canada. In the cold winter months, the temperatures usually sit between -10 Celcius and -30 Celcius from the end of december till the end of february, although it has been a bit warmer in the last few years.

In july, it's usually 20 Celcius at night and 30 Celcius during the day.

Last night, for example, it was -22 Celcius. Today, maximum of -18 Celcius.

I heat my house with three sources : a heat-pump and an electric furnace (installed a few years back), as well as the original baseboards that came with the house. The thermostats for the baseboards are almost all programmable, whereas the thermostat for the heat-pump/furnace is not programmable.

Question 1 : My electric furnace has two heat strips. One of them is not operational at the moment. Therefore, my baseboards are working most of the time at this time of year, because the furnace can't compete by itself with the low outside temperatures. Does using half- my-furnace-plus-the-baseboards to heat my house account for as much energy as repairing-my-furnace-and-using-a-lot-less-of-my- baseboards ? Or am I losing a lot of money keeping my furnace in its crippled state ?

Question 2 : Let's say that I do repair my furnace, would it be worthwhile to install a programmable thermostat for the heat-pump/ furnace, and lower the temperature when we're sleeping and also when we're not in the house ? That would mean from 23h00 to 05h00 every night, and also from 07h30 to 16h30 every week day ? Or is it just too damn cold in Canada that bringing the temperature back up would consume more energy than is saved by lowering the temperature ?

Question 3 : In the hot summer months, again, would having a programmable thermostat save me energy ? And does using these energy- saving periods have an effect on ambient humidity in the house ?

Thanks for your time.

[gofish]

yes

yes

yes

[Stormin Mormon]

I'm not sure about the cost of fuels. However, in NYS electric is far more expensive than any of the petroleum fuels.

Last I knew, heat pumps don't work at all well in bitter cold.

Yes, I'd suggest to get the furnace fixed. And get a humidifier installed. A humidifier is worth every penny, in terms of comfort. I'd also suggest to at least get a couple quotes on getting some fossil fuel heat of some kind.

Your heat cost is based on how much heat your home loses. When it's colder indoors, you lose less heat. And so it costs less.

[Bob_Loblaw]

"Stormin Mormon" wrote

Wow! Should the rest of us be writing this stuff down??

[Oscar_Lives]

Very likely could be the issue.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

To save the most energy should just turn everything off.

[Jeffrey Lebowski]

Definition of *bitter cold*, please...

Any cop above 1 is better than straight electric.

Many rooms already have setback thermostats...maybe he's fine and would be better off closing most registers and only using the forced air in the living room, for instance...

Then again it might be a drafty house already, why heat copious amounts of moist air only to lose it all again via infiltration ?

You haven't even a clue about what his electric costs are.

Nope--when it's colder outside you'll lose more heat, which all just goes to show that you're still a f****ng moron.