I thought that was every day.

Morning PSAR...Everyone stay cool and keep your pets in mind today as well. This is just as bad on them or worse.

Hydrate!

 

Mornin every one....remember to drink lots of water today...otherwise you might see my co workers weather u want to or not.

You know ist hot out when you want to go to work becouse it has A/C lol.

 

Morning PSAR!

My house is about 90 degrees and with the windows and back door open over night. It didn't cool down at all. My room on the other hand is, about 65 degrees. We watched tv last night in our bedroom which was nice and cool. I gave Allyson a nice cool bath before bedtime to cool her off after eating dinner in the kitchen which was a scorcher. She had alot of otter pops last night to keep her cool too. She seems to be doing ok, with this heat so far. It's already 74 degrees this morning, holey moley

 

I have a heat pump and it was the best purchase ever. You will use it more than you think.

 

Morning PSAR

It's gettin' hot out there so take off all yer clothes...................HAHA JUST KIDDING ALL

It was 79 in our house last night that is the dining room/family room so I think today my Dad is coming over & we are going to install the 2nd AC HECK w/ DJ he hasn't came & got it so I guess he's not too hot, Momma HATES being hot so he snoozed & lost NOt too hot in here but poor Ron could be cooler he said he was on a roof on the waterfront yesterday & the "breeze" was HOT!!!!

YES the pets will suffer mine are doing pretty good, they sleep under the porch which is dirt so they stay cool, I tried to get them in the wading pool but NO WAY LOL
bunch of sissies when it comes to water!!! I had Moto playing ball last night & about overheated him , he was panting hard when we were done so I guess none of that tonight!! He LOVES playing ball, out of all 3 dogs he's the only one that actually brings it to you haha

well have a great day all stay cool if ya can might have to hit the lake, DJ floated the river yesterday so now I need to get the raft back!!

 

what exactly does a heat pump do?? I want central air so bad haha, we sometimes just turn the furnace onto cool & it helps when it's not too hot out, didn't help last night I see on our furnace there is a place for ac

long time no see/hear hows the family? tell them all hi

 

Good Morning PSAR!

Time to quit for the day! It's 98 out there and heating up fast. Inside with the AC for me and the dogs.

Comments about heat pumps floating around today so this retired old HVAC/R tech is going to give some opinions.

1. Get several bids and wait till late fall to do it. Smaller outfits will be wanting to keep working and business slows down that time of year. Get references from past customers, there's a lot of crooks out there. Most of the big companies are reliable but expensive and tend to sell name brand products. They also are way less flexible than the one or two man operations. I would guess Rod may know a few good independents in the business.

2. Stay away from Lennonx, Trane, and the other big name outfits. They ALL use proprietary parts and test equipment which means you have to hire the company approved dealership and buy parts from them. Very expensive down the line when something goes bad. Even the really big name outfits use compressors and other basic parts from the same factories. There are a couple of exceptions that make all their own stuff but even these, very expensive, units have about the same life span and maintenance costs.

3. If you have an existing forced air furnace and duct system you may be able to use the existing ducting if it is large enough. AC and heat pumps require more airflow than most gas, oil or electric furnaces. Talk to the contractor about sizing the heat pump or AC to the ducting rather than the house. It's also often possible to increase the fan capacity to force more air thru the existing system. (Be careful with this option as too much pressure in the system can make registers and corners in the ducting whistle and thump.) This way you save the cost of new ducting and the system will handle the heating/cooling requirements the majority of the time. For days that are super hot just shut the registers in unused rooms and force the air to where you need it. Seldom will this happen. The heating system will function normally with the old furnace in really cold conditions when the heat pump can't handle the load. I have had customers that went with the smaller system because of the existing ductwork and put a small window shaker in the main room when it got super hot. They liked this as when it was just getting a bit warm they would use the little unit to cool their front room and not the entire house.

4. Talk with you contractor about keeping it simple. A lot of the new systems have circuit boards and super fancy thermostats. This is where the majority of service calls are made. Boards are expensive as are the t-stats. See if you can get a system that uses the old style controls. Simple t-stats, relays and defrost systems save a lot of money and, IMO, improve reliability. Some, and not that many, of the board controlled systems are a bit more efficient but the difference is too minute to make the breakdown and related cost frequency worth while.

5. If you're a do-it-yourselfer a lot of the smaller outfits will work with you to allow you the option of doing a lot of the grunt work yourself. Most of these guys are good at their job and seldom advertise much. They want happy customers as word of mouth is their bread and butter.

6. Take a close look at the little one and two room systems that are now available. They allow you to easily zone heat and cool a house and don't require any ductwork. This is the way we are going in the house we are remodeling at the present time. These units have a small outdoor coil located close to where the indoor unit is placed. The indoor part of the system is small and easy to make disappear with a bit of decorating ingenuity. Only thing you have to run to these is an electric wire. Super simple. We are also putting in a small electric furnace with minimal ducting to spread the heat from the wood stove but that's a whole different story. The little units have pre-charged copper connection tubes and are very versatile. Worth a look IMO.

Now, how a heat pump works. Well, first off there is no such thing as cold. There is simply and absence of heat. Heat is a form of energy and as such can be moved from place to place and this is what a heat pump does. In the summer it collects heat from the house and moves it outside, same as air conditioning. In the winter it takes the heat that is in the air outside and moves it indoors. But how can it do this when the outside is only 50 degrees you ask, because there is more heat in the air at 50 degrees than there is at 30. Just that simple. Heat pumps are generally effective at saving electricity down to around 30 degrees. At that point the heat pump will shut off and the back up heat will come on be it electric, gas or oil. Overly simplified but thats the basic idea.

So, that's the basic thoughts I have about that. Any questions just ask them here as I often forget to look at the PM thing.

Nap time, been up since 4 AM.

Mike

 

Good Morning PSAR!

Time to quit for the day! It's 98 out there and heating up fast. Inside with the AC for me and the dogs.

Comments about heat pumps floating around today so this retired old HVAC/R tech is going to give some opinions.

1. Get several bids and wait till late fall to do it. Smaller outfits will be wanting to keep working and business slows down that time of year. Get references from past customers, there's a lot of crooks out there. Most of the big companies are reliable but expensive and tend to sell name brand products. They also are way less flexible than the one or two man operations. I would guess Rod may know a few good independents in the business.

2. Stay away from Lennonx, Trane, and the other big name outfits. They ALL use proprietary parts and test equipment which means you have to hire the company approved dealership and buy parts from them. Very expensive down the line when something goes bad. Even the really big name outfits use compressors and other basic parts from the same factories. There are a couple of exceptions that make all their own stuff but even these, very expensive, units have about the same life span and maintenance costs.

3. If you have an existing forced air furnace and duct system you may be able to use the existing ducting if it is large enough. AC and heat pumps require more airflow than most gas, oil or electric furnaces. Talk to the contractor about sizing the heat pump or AC to the ducting rather than the house. It's also often possible to increase the fan capacity to force more air thru the existing system. (Be careful with this option as too much pressure in the system can make registers and corners in the ducting whistle and thump.) This way you save the cost of new ducting and the system will handle the heating/cooling requirements the majority of the time. For days that are super hot just shut the registers in unused rooms and force the air to where you need it. Seldom will this happen. The heating system will function normally with the old furnace in really cold conditions when the heat pump can't handle the load. I have had customers that went with the smaller system because of the existing ductwork and put a small window shaker in the main room when it got super hot. They liked this as when it was just getting a bit warm they would use the little unit to cool their front room and not the entire house.

4. Talk with you contractor about keeping it simple. A lot of the new systems have circuit boards and super fancy thermostats. This is where the majority of service calls are made. Boards are expensive as are the t-stats. See if you can get a system that uses the old style controls. Simple t-stats, relays and defrost systems save a lot of money and, IMO, improve reliability. Some, and not that many, of the board controlled systems are a bit more efficient but the difference is too minute to make the breakdown and related cost frequency worth while.

5. If you're a do-it-yourselfer a lot of the smaller outfits will work with you to allow you the option of doing a lot of the grunt work yourself. Most of these guys are good at their job and seldom advertise much. They want happy customers as word of mouth is their bread and butter.

6. Take a close look at the little one and two room systems that are now available. They allow you to easily zone heat and cool a house and don't require any ductwork. This is the way we are going in the house we are remodeling at the present time. These units have a small outdoor coil located close to where the indoor unit is placed. The indoor part of the system is small and easy to make disappear with a bit of decorating ingenuity. Only thing you have to run to these is an electric wire. Super simple. We are also putting in a small electric furnace with minimal ducting to spread the heat from the wood stove but that's a whole different story. The little units have pre-charged copper connection tubes and are very versatile. Worth a look IMO.

Now, how a heat pump works. Well, first off there is no such thing as cold. There is simply and absence of heat. Heat is a form of energy and as such can be moved from place to place and this is what a heat pump does. In the summer it collects heat from the house and moves it outside, same as air conditioning. In the winter it takes the heat that is in the air outside and moves it indoors. But how can it do this when the outside is only 50 degrees you ask, because there is more heat in the air at 50 degrees than there is at 30. Just that simple. Heat pumps are generally effective at saving electricity down to around 30 degrees. At that point the heat pump will shut off and the back up heat will come on be it electric, gas or oil. Overly simplified but thats the basic idea.

So, that's the basic thoughts I have about that. Any questions just ask them here as I often forget to look at the PM thing.

Nap time, been up since 4 AM.

Mike

 

OOPS! Have no idea how I made a double post. Sorry!

Mike

 

Thanks for the input Mike. We've been scoping out heat pumps for some time and had a couple contractors out to compare bids and what they had to say. For the most part our house is ready, it's basically plug and play for the heat-pump. Good tip on not going with the major name brands.