I payed 80 for that last year and probably should have earlier this year but kept forgetting to call. My system is 3yrs old now. I wouldn't think you have anything to worry about. Then again if it needs a little tweaking to get optimum operation you could get that back in savings quickly. If it is running good and your bill seems to reflect it I would let it ride this year, well that is what I am doing.

I have my heat pump locked out at 15F and it seems to manage rather well here in west central Missouri. We have much milder temps in winter than you so I don't know what temp to lock out up there. I think 15F is a stretch down here for me and I might bump mine up to 20, I just do not want to have it sitting when it could be operating and giving more heat for my money than my strips.

I really do like the lockout feature and really like it when the temp is diving below 15 at night and coming back in the day and not having to manually control it.

With a gas furnace and living up north with a lockout would be the hot ticket. No muss no fuss if its stays 10 degrees for a week and decides to warm up to 30 for one day.. the heat pump runs and the gas is off that day until it drops back down.

It's good to have it inspected anually. Having paid 5 digits for a new system, you'll want to make sure it's running properly. Also the fine print in your warranty will require yearly maintenance, otherwise warranty repairs can be denied.

sonia

the idea that a nice 2 yr old Trane system has to have the dip switches checked and probably re-set says alot about Trane. This is very easy but Trane dealers and techs seem to find it difficult to get right the first time. Instructions are on the inside cabinet door and checking this out should not take more than 5-10 minutes for a knowledgeable tech.I had a similar experience with my Trane dual fuel system.

What does the yearly PM cost and what exactly does it cover both HP and gas furnace? Be specific. Generally I think a PM for a system this age is not necessary unless there are indications that there is a problem. I also think since you have dual fuel, it would be better to have this service in late May or June since the HP's refrigerant charge should be checked. The most important thing a homeowner can do is change the filter on a regular basis. What is your dealer's experience with HPs?

what is your electric rate and nat gas rate?
Obviously with a dual fuel system, a homeowner generally is attempting to leverage reasonable electric rate versus the more expensive natural gas. What brand/model stat do you have? It has an outdoor sensor? What changeover point do you have now between locking out your HP and switching over to the gas furnace? How is that working out for you.

My general advice is to set the changeover at the balance point plus 10%. For example, if your balance point is 30 degrees, then set the changeover at 33 degrees. If you don't know your balance point, then I suggest starting at 30 degrees and moving point up or down based on your home's comfort and the operating performance of the HP. You do not want to see the HP running continuosly.

While I don't know your area's average winter temp, I would question the selection of dual fuel system as effective for SE Minn.

IMO

Tigerdunes -

We have a sort of complicated system I think. We already had a Crestron home control system with a wall sensor in each of the three zones reporting back to the Crestron thermostats (CHV-THSTAT) located in the furnace room. An EWC control board controls the automatic dampers (model UZC4). Initially, there was not an outside temp sensor for the EWC board, but I had them install that last spring. At that time they also checked the HP refrigerant charge, so that should be OK. The dip switches I need them to check are on the EWC board - I don't think it is set right now to have the outside temp sensor control turning off the HP. We had switched to a different HVAC contractor for this furnace/HP install as they have a good reputation, but are not the cheapest in town. They work mostly with Trane systems and do a lot of heat pumps, but were not familiar with the EWC control panel or interfacing with this Crestron system.

Their quote to check the furnace/HP for overall function and CO, etc is $135. My only real question is to have them check that the humidifier is running correctly (not hooked to a specific humidity, but runs when heat is called for); it appears otherwise that the system is working ok and CO levels are zero. I'm not sure there is much reason to do a whole system check at this point.

When selling us the system, they argued that using a HP for the long fall and spring times is more efficient than using gas all year - for average yearly temps, using the HP about 206 days (some of that is cooling but mostly heating) and furnace 159 days. Last winter, I manually locked out the HP (a switch on the EWC panel) for most of the winter as we had a cold winter last year. I got different answers as to when to lock out the HP. The chart they gave us suggested around 35 degrees, but the salesman suggested around 25 degrees or so. Hopefully this winter the changeover between HP and furnace will be based on outside temp. Last year without the temp sensor, the thermostat would call for the changeover when it would take too long to get the house up to the desired temp using the HP.

Regarding utility rates on the most recent bills:
natural gas per therm: $0.9897 + $0.1177 distribution charge, but there also was a rebate of 0.26/ therm for change in gas rates.

elec: $0.1015/KWH

Hopefully this makes some sense! Thanks!