The Heat is On!!

My new thermostat looks suspiciously like the one that lived above my desk at the library.  I am still trying to find my happy medium for the settings.  I first set the heat at 68 and the air conditioning at 75 but I was too HOT!!  I have sky lights and if there is any sun at all, the house really heats up.  I have gobs of insulation and had the windows caulked this summer.  Who knew that had never been done?? and that might have been why there was always a breeze by the windows.

Anyway, they tell me that I need to find that sweet spot that keeps me comfy and keep it there for the best use of energy and to substantially lower my electric bill.  As you can see I have it set at 65 but the house is actually 67 due to the sun shining at 9:48 in the morning.  It is now almost 6:00 in the evening and the house is still at 72 with the furnace only coming on once early this morning.

Now, you know that Miss MoneyPenny had been whining and complaining and wringing her hands at the thought of spending serious money on a new system when I already had a crappy one that was doable, but not effecient and becoming quite expensive.  I talked to several people who had installed a heat pump (and loved it) and did my research and decided that I was just not going to do it and breathed a big sigh of relief.  Once that was out of the way, I began the process of buying one.

After calling around, Jara of Air Flo, was the most on the ball and came out and gave me an estimate.  She was great, always showing up right on time and answering all of my irritating questions and returning all phone calls.  I decided to have the heat pump system installed but it had to be contingent on getting the $1500 rebate from PSE.  She filled out all of the paperwork and submitted it for me and I got an answer within a couple of days, so, we were good to go.  We scheduled for the 1st of October.

At 7:45, the guys showed up.  Two Air Flo guys and two electricians.  They were done by 2:30 and even vacuumed up after themselves.  They set up the heat pump, replaced my old furnace with a fancy dancy electronic looking thing with blinking lights, and did a lot of electrical wiring.  This is what the heat pump looks like:

Here is the new furnace.  They are scheduled to return on Friday with a new custom made door to cover the furnace.  Note the blue blinking lights down on the right.

These are the Air Flo guys, Ryan and Dan.  Very patient with all my questions.  Ryan is the one with the tool belt and Dan is the apprentice.  Ryan has to be worth his weight in gold to Air Flo.

 

 

And their van.  I just like work vans.  I actually used $2000 that I had earned on my credit card to put down on a plumbing van for my son's business.

 

I decided to go with the mid range Trane XR15 heat pump with a 10 year warranty on parts and the compressor and one year labor.  The annual maintenance on the system averages $150.  Here is the breakdown:

Trane XR15 heat pump        =   $7073.00

Tax                                        +      636.57

PSE Rebate                           -     1500.00

Trane Rebate                        -       150.00


Grand Total                         =  $6059.57

I hope this helps if you are looking into a heat pump.  If you decide to do it and go with Air Flo, mention my name and we each get a $100.  What??  You don't think that they know who Miss MoneyPenny is??  Of course they do.