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QUESTION:We are building and I need to know the pros and cons of dual fuel heating vs
using a conventional furnace.
ANSWER: We have a "dual fuel" heat pump system.
For HG and those who haven't heard of it, the system is a way for the
electric company to sell more electricity during the heating months. It also
allows heat pump makers to sell heat pumps to colder areas. Ours is a
Carrier model.
It is essentially a regular heat pump. However instead of using electric
resistance heating for backup on especially cold days, it uses a combined
natural gas furnace.
Typically the electric company is involved in the sale of the system
somehow. In our case we got two significant benefits.
First they lower our electric rates by almost 1/2 for any usage over 600kwh
during the 7 heating months of the year. So we pay about 4 cents per kwh in
the late fall/winter/early spring compared to about 7 cents during the
summer.
They also gave us a "rebate" on the purchase of the dual fuel heat pump that
made it's price less than a regular furnace/air conditioner combo.
The heat pump of course works best on days when you need heat but not a
whole lot of heat. So we use the heat pumps generally when it is over 50
degrees. Colder than that I set the switch to gas.
If electricity gets too high, we can leave the gas switched on all the time.
The switch is really easy, all I have to do is toggle a little plastic lever
on the thermostat. If the heat pump fails to keep the temp within a couple
degrees of the set point, the thermostat calls for gas fuel on it's own.
Many of our friends buy the systems, then leave the switch on for gas, and
get the 1/2 price electricity.
The efficiency of the system appears to be excellent. Our electric bills in
the winter are quite low compared to our neighbors. Of course getting the
juice at 1/2 price helps a lot there. The gas furnace part is ignited by an
electric starter, without any pilot light.
If you are considering dual fuel, see if your electric company has a similar
1/2 price program or gives the rebates. Ours is Southwestern Public Service
(recently a division of New Centuries which merged into a Minnesota company
to create XCel Energy).
For us, there were no cons, only pros. But it depended on getting the lower
electric rates and the rebate on the purchase of the unit. Since ours was
installed 8 years ago, I can't tell you if it would make sense in 2000
without the 1/2 price rate. It would also depend on where you live. If you
don't get too cold in the winter, it might be a good deal.
We haven't had any service or reliability problems with the unit after 8
years. Only routine maintenance and system checks.
We are located in the Texas panhandle area. Most of the electric demand is
in the summer for air conditioning, so this lets SPS sell more juice during
the winter. Now that they are merged with a company from Minnesota, I
suspect they can sell their excess capacity more easily up north and not
fool around with these dual fuel arrangements.
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