low temp heat pump question

toddj_5

Hi all,

Has anyone had any experience with a Hollowell Low Temp Heat Pump? Are they practical in an older home (1870 victorian)...I do have new windows and much of house has been reinsulated. Also house is a 3 unit so wondering if that would require more than one heat pump. House is about 2500 sq feet.

Thanks for any help.

Todd

[Deleted User]

no direct exp but;

"Now commercially available ( see www.gotohallowell.com ). It has been studied though several organizations to show much greater comfort, significantly reduced defrosts compared to traditional systems, and can maintain high heating capacities in northern climates at temperatures as low as 30 below zero while keeping efficiencies above 200%. There are three new studies coming out in the coming months showing the results of an 8 state cooperative research study by the national rural electric cooperative association. The system is only released as air to air for about $6500.00 and installs like a central air conditioner. My wife and I were considering a geothermal but the price to install ran about 30k for a 3.5 ton system for our 2500sf home. We called Hallowell and asked for references and spoke with a customer of theirs on Cape Cod. They heated 3000sf home for about $700.00 for 2006 / 2007, with an electric rate of 17 cents per kwh. This could be a very disruptive technology finally offering an alternative to fossil fuel"

do the math and see if it'll pay off in your lifetime, or be such a selling point?

3 unit?

toddj_5

Thanks Mike...

3 unit means multi-unit house (3 apartments).

So you think it would cost about $6500 for the unit to be installed in your similar size home. That is do-able esp if it could reduce my heat bill that much..currently it's like $6000 @ $3/gallon which is probably best case pre-buy price I can hope for next year..at $3.50 heat cost would be $7000. How do people who have these big homes afford these prices? I at least get rental income to offset some of this cost.

Only draw back I can come up with is that I'd have to install the forced hot air duct work(I currently have forced hot water in 2 apts and steam radiators in the other. I'd keep them as back up.)

You have to figure if there are savings like this to be had with a Low temp heat pump that many people are gonna be taking a very very very serious look at these systems.

So two other questions are this:

1. Can one unit be used for 3 zones?

2. Do these systems have high maintenance costs?
Thanks again