HVAC vs Heat Pump Question - What is the Difference

[Tidybuoy]

I am going to replace the rooftop unit on my duplex. It currently has an old heat pump system. I got an estimate from an AC company, and they quoted me for a heat pump. The other unit in my duplex has regular HVAC.

My questions:
Are there pros/cons on staying with a heat pump?
What is the difference between the two systems?
Is one more energy efficient than the other?
This would be in Fresno, CA where we have hot summers (over 100) and medium winters (40's with some 30's)

My tenant has been complaining that their utility bill is super high - well, welcome to California where rates are up about 30% over LY and LY was way too high.

My other tenant (the one with regular hvac) says that their utility bills have been ok. Their HVAC is about 12 yrs old.

Any insights will be appreciated...thanks.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Tidybuoy

I am going to replace the rooftop unit on my duplex. It currently has an old heat pump system. I got an estimate from an AC company, and they quoted me for a heat pump. The other unit in my duplex has regular HVAC.

My questions:
Are there pros/cons on staying with a heat pump?
What is the difference between the two systems?
Is one more energy efficient than the other?
This would be in Fresno, CA where we have hot summers (over 100) and medium winters (40's with some 30's)

My tenant has been complaining that their utility bill is super high - well, welcome to California where rates are up about 30% over LY and LY was way too high.

My other tenant (the one with regular hvac) says that their utility bills have been ok. Their HVAC is about 12 yrs old.

Any insights will be appreciated...thanks.

It depends on climate a nd utiility rates

where I live the winters are long and cold and natural gas is relatively inexpensive so heat w/ gas for for the winter and for hot water, for A?C in the integrated system heat pump which also runs on mild days for heat say 50F up. Get multispeed fans and you never hear either furnace or A/C.

My electric bills are close to 1/2 what they used to be

[Sooner or later]

A modern heat pump will probbly supply enough heat without need for backup heat at those low temps.
A conventional system will require a separate heat source.

Going from heat pump to conventional may require additional costs to put in the heating system (if it doesn't have one)

Check SEER between the two.

3 years ago I replaced a conventional system with a new conventional system. 20 SEER with natural gas heat. Cost me a small fortune though my monthly electric and gas bills are extremely low.

My guess is that you will stick with heat pump.

[930addict]

We just replaced our old 80% single stage HVAC system with a 99% variable speed system with dual fuel heat pump. The heat pump will extract heat from the air to heat your house and can operate efficiently down to low thirty’s outside air. After that the furnace will kick on and burn natural gas to heat the house as usual. So it’s supposed to reduce the amount of natural gas needed to heat your home.

[rwest]

A heat pump will be more energy efficient than a standard AC unit- but, using it to heat may be more expensive than using natural gas as most places electricity is more expensive than gas.

In your situation, we would need more information on what you have now and what is being purposed.

In my house, using a conventional gas furnace with a AC coil is my most cost effective option- I live in MN, so winter heating is substantial.

In my garage, I was using an electric heater to keep it around 50 degrees in the winter, but I replaced that with a mini split unit that is a heat pump system and it cut my cost considerably.

[Tidybuoy]

It's hard to say what is best in my case. In the summer, gas price is very low but in the winter PG&E jacks up the price.

For my Duplex, I think I will go with the heat pump since that is what it will be replacing. I really have no idea if the unit is even setup for gas. It probably has gas capped off since the other unit is a regular hvac with gas heater.

My goal is to make it a little more efficient for my tenant as well as updating my property which I may sell in about 5 years. I do not know the history on the existing heat pump system, but I do know it's old (probably 20+ years).

[fintstone]

In places without extreme temperatures (heat/cold), a high efficiency heat pump results in lower energy bills. Most folks in moderate climates use heat strips in the air handler for aux/emergency heat. A highly efficient heat pump rarely uses that.

If in your own home, there is a $2K Fed tax rebate for installing an efficient heat pump.

From my experience, heat pumps tend not to last as long as an AC/Furnace system as they pretty much run all the time. I just had a high-end one installed (Trane) in my vacation home and it has a pretty good 12-year warranty. If setup correctly, they can be used to better reduce humidity (variable speed). The variable speed ones seem to provide better overall comfort as they generally do not have a 2-3 degree gap before coming on. They pretty much just keep it right on.

In a rental, most folks do not provide anything beyond a mid-range, moderately priced unit (not variable) ...as they don't pay the electric bills. Even so, a heat pump is usually still the way to go.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

It depends on climate a nd utiility rates

where I live the winters are long and cold and natural gas is relatively inexpensive so heat w/ gas for for the winter and for hot water, for A?C in the integrated system heat pump which also runs on mild days for heat say 50F up. Get multispeed fans and you never hear either furnace or A/C.

My electric bills are close to 1/2 what they used to be

Hey, nice to see that you're still around, Bill. Always appreciated your posts, always great info, on the 911 Tech board when I was there. I see you like to slum it in OT with us from time to time. LOL! And still providing quality info!

Cheers fella!