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Air-sourced heat pump for hydronic heat?

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

I built a new house in the Adirondack mountains of northern NY, about 100 miles south of Montreal, with in-floor hydronic radiant heat, heated with an electric boiler, as my only heat source. This winter, my greatest electric use was about 3300 KWh per month, for both January and February. I turned off the boiler in early May and have consumed about 500 KWh per month since then, so my heating electric consumption is about 2800 KWh/mo. I would like to find a way to use an air-sourced heat pump to heat the water, but have been unable to find such.

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Comments (6)

ionized_gw
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
I guess you are out in the boonies with no nat gas. I can't help with equipment. It is a relatively low volume kind of demand for equipment, I'm sure. You may be forced into the industrial/commercial area and if you are not big enough, you may be out of luck.

Assuming that you can get a suitably sized unit, if your hydronic system is designed to deliver heat with a low enough water temperature, it can probably be done efficiently. What is the water temperature currently set to?

Try heatinghelp.com and terrylove.com. I've seen some good hydronic heat/boiler threads in both places.

If you have to stick with an electric boiler, you might look at the installation of a large storage tank and going to day/night rates. You'd have to run some numbers to see if it will work for you.
mtvhike
Original Author
7 years ago
I don't believe our power company has night/day rates. I think the boiler temperature is set to 125 degrees maximum.
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You'd have to pull the top cover to see what I am talking about, but you don't have to pull the cover to install an air vent. The reason I say about the air vent is because I recently installed an auxillary boiler in my garage and its air vent was at the ceiling, the highest point in the house. Everyday I would hear the air going through the pipes, yet the air vent never bled it out. I finally realized that is was the air in the dome of the boiler and I bled alot of it out through the pressure relief valve that day. Everyday I crack the valve and a tiny bit of air still comes out, but the system is now whisper quiet. As long as you have circulation, your air scoop and air vent will bleed out the air. And any that is trapped in the dome of the boiler can be handled as I explained above.
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moved
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fsq4cw
7 years ago
“I would like to find a way to use an air-sourced heat pump
to heat the water, but have been unable to find such.”

Here is a link to just the HP for you, made not too far away
in New Brunswick Canada for our very cold winters. You will also benefit from
the high dollar exchange rate since the Canadian dollar is so low right now.

Watch the video about this HP as well.

Have you thought about geothermal?

http://www.nordicghp.com/product/nordic-products/air-source-heat-pumps/air-to-water/

Let us know what you think.

SR
Elmer J Fudd
7 years ago
You don't say how large the house is, but isn't it common up your way for houses to have wood or pellet stoves for supplemental heating? Would one of those be feasible for you to add, to reduce the electricity bill?
mtvhike
Original Author
7 years ago
My house is 1800 sq ft on the main floor, with a full basement and a loft. It is super insulated and sealed and I don't think I could use a combustion device inside. Also, this is a vacation home, so I'm not present all the time. However, I have been thinking about an outside wood-burning boiler.
ionized_gw
7 years ago
If you are super insulated and sealed, it may not pay to put in an efficient heat source. Run some numbers.

Will you keep the electric boiler for back up in case the heat pump fails while you are out of the house?

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