Thinking of adding a HP. Payback time?

Question

My local Carrier dealer is coming out next week to give me a quote on adding a heat pump to my current system for a dual source setup. I wanted to crunch some numbers in the mean time to find my break even point or how many years until I can see a savings.

Here is my info. Let me know if I'm missing something.

House is 14 years old, 3,000 sq.ft., tightly sealed with good insulation and is located in SW PA.

I have a 14 year old Carrier 90%+ propane furnace (new heat exchanger installed last year under warranty) with whole house AC.

Propane is running $2.29 a gallon and electricity is 4.624 cents per KWH.

Furnace, water heater, clothes dryer and stove are all propane. Current usage is around 1050 gallons per year.

Am I on the right track and is this a smart move?

Can anyone help me estimate the savings.

THANKS!

<kjpro · Accepted Answer

$2.29 LP burning at 90% will cost $2.77 per 100K into the home.

4.624 cent Electric (KWH) will cost $1.35 per 100K into the home. (51.27% savings)

Pretty clear to me... unless you like spending an extra 105% to heat your home!

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HP operation... (based on your electric rate of .04624/kwh)

ODT above 47 degrees at a COP of 3.5 will cost $0.3869 per 100K into home. (86% savings, will heat your home without back-up heat)

ODT down to 0 degrees at a COP of 1.6 will cost $0.8463 per 100K into home. (69% savings, however, this will need back-up electric heat strips to supplement the HP)

Any combination of the above with straight electric heat strips is going to be cheaper, since your straight electric is cheaper than LP already!

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Yearly savings would depend on your particular area's climate. No, I'm not going to dig up that info and do the calcs for free!

geothermaljones · Answer

Kudo's on this reply...You'll save a ton & it'll pay or itself in 3-4 years (max) at those rates...        goodluck        geothermaljones

idoaconly · Answer

The savings will be 1084.26 cents per year. Install a digitalthermostat and the savings will jump to an astounding 2084.97 centsper year. You're welcome.

Jeff A. Farrar · Answer

Thanks to everyone for the help.  Looks like I'll be investing some money this fall.

Thinking of adding a HP. Payback time?

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