Are you ready to quote? Enter your zip code now
The best way to heat your home is to use reverse cycle air conditioning. This is true whether your goal is to save money or save the planet. In this article, I will explain that no matter how bad your air conditioner is, it may be economically better to use it for heating rather than for air.
Depending on your location and the efficiency of the air conditioner, your heating bill may be reduced by more than half. The biggest savings are in Western Australia. With the highest natural gas price in Australia and the lowest solar feed-in tariff, solar air conditioners in Perth can provide heat at a price 7% lower than the cost of natural gas.
I will only provide economic and environmental reasons for using air-conditioning for heating. If you happen to like the smell of gas in the morning, I can't help you. Feel free to criticize my savings analysis in the comments, but if you just fall in love with methane, please try to maintain a secret love.
In this article, I will introduce:
After reading it, you will see-although Jumping Jack Flash may be a gas, gas, gas-but what you really want to keep your home warm, warm, and warm is the efficient reverse cycle air conditioner.
Heating with gas is very simple. Flammable natural gas is piped to your home, where it catches fire—preferably in some kind of heater—and releases heat. Unless there are dangerous defects in the gas heater, the heater will convert all the chemical energy in the gas into heat. If you close the curtains, even all the light it emits will eventually become heat in your home. This may make gas heating seem to be 100% effective, but it is not. The efficiency of a natural gas heater is usually only about 70%.
There are some secondary reasons why it is not 100%. The gas entering your home in winter will be very cold, and its pipes can transfer the heat out. But the main reason is ventilation.
There are two basic types of gas heaters:
The flue gas heater is not infected with virus. This means that it has a chimney or other special ventilation device that allows the carbon dioxide and water vapor produced by combustion to escape to the outside. Flueless heaters may be more efficient, but if you try to make them very efficient by sealing the room, they will kill you. Due to this danger, the amount of combustion gas of flueless heaters is limited, and the room where they are located requires ventilation. The exact requirements may vary from state to state.
The flue allows heat to escape, and so does the ventilation of the room. This causes the efficiency of the gas heater to be as low as 60%. The average efficiency of existing heaters may be 70-80%. The highest efficiency of a properly installed gas heater that meets state and Australian standards may be 90%.
Natural gas is mainly methane. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor are released during combustion. 2 The CO2 produced by the flueless gas heater is not good for your health. If the heater is defective, it produces carbon monoxide that your body cannot detect, which may harm or kill you. For this reason, it is recommended to repair gas water heaters regularly instead of putting them in the bedroom.
If you don’t believe me, watch this disturbing Irish cartoon:
Water vapor from combustion gases can also be a problem. Although a little humidity is good in winter, too much can cause dampness, mold, and a small waterfall of condensation water running down the windows.
Only a "reverse cycle" air conditioner can provide heat. Not only can they extract heat from your home and cool it down, but they can also reverse the cycle and pump heat from outside air into your home. Most air conditioners sold are reverse cycle, but don’t accidentally buy a cooling-only air conditioner.
Air conditioners heat more efficiently than gas because they do not use energy to directly generate heat, but use energy to move heat. Therefore, even the worst air conditioner you can buy is several times more energy efficient than using gas.
Because air conditioners pump heat to the surroundings, they are called heat pumps. If you want to know how to choose energy-efficient ones, I recently wrote an article about how the new air conditioning labeling system works. I suggest you buy the most efficient reverse cycle air conditioner, which does not have the absurd price tag designed to attract wealthy hippies.
But even the worst air conditioner you can buy can provide about 3.5 kWh of heat for every kWh of electricity consumed, making their effective energy efficiency around 350%, four times that of a typical gas heater Or more times.
Electricity is sold in kilowatt hours. In normal conversation, "kWh" refers to electricity, but it can be any kind of energy including heat. If you use a kilowatt-hour of electricity in a basic resistance heater like one of them...
Don't open them when they are sitting on the red cushion, unless you are eager to see the orange flames.
...It converts electrical energy into one kilowatt-hour of heat energy. However, a heating and air conditioner with 3.5 Energy Stars can deliver at least 5 kWh of heat energy to your home for every kWh of electricity consumed. This makes it at least 500% efficient.
Natural gas is paid in megajoules (MJ). This is just a different measure of energy. For the sake of comparison, I will convert megajoules into kilowatt-hours. This is not difficult, because a kilowatt-hour is only 3.6 megajoules.
When determining the cost of natural gas, I did not consider daily supply costs. This cost, plus the cost of regular maintenance of gas equipment to maintain safety, is an excellent reason to stop using gas altogether.
I look up the lowest cost natural gas plan in every capital on the Internet. Except Darwin. If you are there to heat your home, I can only say...
"Welcome to the earth and enjoy your stay. Please don't try to convince the locals that if there are more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, this place will be better."
For most natural gas retail programs, once the consumption exceeds the threshold, the cost per megajoule will drop. To calculate the average gas cost of a household, I need to decide how much it consumes. Most Australian households use about 30 megajoules or less per day in winter, but in Victoria, it is close to 100. For the sake of convenience, I will calculate the gas bill based on the 100 megajoules of electricity used by the family every day.
In Tasmania, they consume an average of more than 200 megajoules a day in winter, but they pay a fixed gasoline price, so the fees they charge will not change with the usage.
The average cost of the cheapest natural gas I can find in all state capitals and Canberra3, in megajoules and kilowatt hours:
Update August 30, 2021: I made a stupid mistake about Perth's gasoline prices. In other states, natural gas is sold in megajoules, but in Western Australia, it is sold in kilowatt hours. I didn't realize this, so the gasoline price I gave was 3.6 times higher than it should be. I have corrected all references to Perth gasoline prices in the article.
This is a graph that compares the cost of natural gas per kWh of each (reasonable) capital with the cost of grid electricity per kWh4:
As you can see, one kilowatt hour of natural gas is always cheaper than one kilowatt hour of grid electricity. In Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, the cost of natural gas is less than one-third of the cost of electricity from the grid. Even in Perth, where gas is the most expensive, the heat output per kWh of high-efficiency gas heaters is still cheaper than resistance heaters.
So thankfully, everyone who reads this article is smart enough to use an air conditioner for heating instead of some small resistance heaters.
Twenty years ago, it was possible to buy an inefficient reverse cycle air conditioner. For every kWh of electricity consumed, only 2 kWh of heat could be delivered to your home. But in 10 years, the lowest efficiency level was about 350%. Of course, this is not an accurate figure. This will depend on the characteristics and installation location of the air conditioner, but any air conditioner with a service life of less than 10 years may provide at least three times as much heat as its electrical energy.
Comparing a gas heater with an efficiency as high as 90% and an air conditioner with an efficiency as low as 300%, the following conclusions are drawn:
Even in the worst-case scenario of air conditioners that have been used for less than 10 years, they always provide heat at a lower cost than gas—except for Perth.
In fact, most people will not choose between the most efficient natural gas heater on the market and the least efficient reverse cycle air conditioner. If we compare the more typical 75% efficiency gas heater with an air conditioner with 3.5 Energy Stars (out of 10) according to the new energy label, the results of the air conditioner look much better. A 3.5-star rating means that the effective efficiency of the air conditioner is at least 500%:
As you can see, through this more realistic comparison, air-conditioning heating is much cheaper than gas. Even in Perth, the cost of air conditioning and heating is less than two-thirds of the cost of gas.
Although you may have to pay more for a 3.5-star reverse cycle air conditioner than just a pair of Energy Stars, the additional cost should not bankrupt the bank, and there are many stars or more available.
So far, I have only shown the grid electricity cost with uniform electricity price. For time-of-use electricity prices, the electricity bills during peak hours may be much higher. But this is not necessarily a question of the cost of air conditioning and heating. Because it can be heated flexibly, time-sharing charges can reduce costs.
Every air conditioner I have seen has a built-in timer 5. This makes it easy to warm your home before the peak usage time begins. Then, if you want to further reduce power consumption after the peak period begins, you can turn the thermostat down or turn off the air conditioner completely.
If you use air conditioning for heating during the day, having rooftop solar panels will further save money. This is because when you use your own solar energy instead of grid energy, the savings on electricity bills will increase-except for some old, high, solar feed-in tariffs locked in households.
If you go out during the day, solar energy may not reduce your heating costs, but you can try to set a timer so that your reverse cycle air conditioner uses solar energy to heat your home before returning home at night. But your home is really ventilated and it is not good for heat preservation, which may not help.
Sometimes a natural gas salesperson will claim that it is a low-emission option for heating, but this only applies when compared to resistance heating. Even air-conditioners driven entirely by coal have lower emissions than direct gas heating, as shown in the following three steps:
Fortunately, our grid uses only about 62% of coal for power generation, and the carbon dioxide emissions per kilowatt-hour of electricity may be about 656 grams. This means that when powered by the grid, even the worst air conditioner you can buy will have lower emissions than burning natural gas.
As fossil fuels shift from the electricity market, the emission advantage of grid-powered air conditioners will improve. Natural gas emissions will remain basically unchanged6.
The emissions of natural gas are worse than they appear on the surface because of the additional greenhouse gas emissions generated during its extraction, refining and distribution. Some of it comes from leaks, which is a major problem because methane is a greenhouse gas, which is about 32 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. There is controversy about the amount of unorganized emissions, so I don't have a firm figure. But in my opinion, they can easily increase the greenhouse gas emissions of domestic natural gas by more than a quarter.
Brisbane is the capital, where air-conditioning powered by the grid provides the most heat savings per kilowatt-hour. But because Tasmanians use much more heat overall, Hobart will become the capital with the most savings overall.
With the lowest solar feed-in tariff in the country, Perth is the best place to use solar energy to power air conditioners, so the cost of using air conditioners for heating during the day is very low. WA households that use 500% solar-powered reverse cycle air conditioners to obtain low DEBS solar feed-in tariffs will pay less than 7% of natural gas costs by 3:00 pm. After that, it will increase to about 22% of the gas cost, but this is still pretty good.
No matter how old your reverse cycle air conditioner is, it may be economically better to use it for heating than gas. If you are in Perth or Melbourne and your air conditioner is old and one of the less efficient air conditioners ever, the only exception is. However, if you have solar panels and sometimes heat your home during the day, you can be sure that no matter how bad your air conditioning is, you can save money.
Ronald Brakels was born in Toowoomba many years ago. When his township collected a collection and sent him to Japan, he became famous internationally for the first time. This was the farthest place they could manage with the funds raised. When the local mayor greeted him at the airport and explained that it was too dangerous for him to return to Toowoomba due to climate change and mutations attacking goats. After returning to Australia, he developed a keen interest in environmental issues. Ronald then moved to a property in Adelaide Hills, where he now lives with his horse Tonto 23.
A great article, but Ron did not make it clear that the heating efficiency of a reverse cycle air conditioner or heat pump depends on the heat transferred from the outside. Therefore, the lower the external temperature, the more difficult the work of the heat pump and the lower the efficiency. Below a certain temperature, it cannot sufficiently increase the temperature. In general, the efficiency of reverse cycle air conditioning will be higher, unless in a truly cold climate, ground source heat pumps may make more sense. In Australia, only Tasmania truly fits this situation.
**Error in the Sydney table, where gas is incorrectly marked in kilowatt hours.
I did not go into details in this article, but the new air conditioner labels solve this problem well by making their Energy Star rating depend on location:
https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/air-conditioner-energy-labels/
Unfortunately, it may take years for all split air conditioners to carry these labels. (And there is no need for large ducted air conditioners at all.)
The problem in our home is that the split system heat pump is noisier and more ventilated than piped gas heating. The pipe heat pump system is very expensive, especially, someone told me because it cannot use existing pipes. Our gas water heater is broken, I decided not to replace it and installed a heat pump. A few weeks later, I was rejected and we bought a new gas installation.
What brand and model of heat pump did you buy? Who installed it?
The 6kW Toshiba RAS-22N3KV2-A/AV2- ABN 61 092 231 046 installed by CB Air is not too noisy; it is just louder than the piping system. It is enough to be distracting when watching TV.
In Thredbo, NSW ELGAS (also known as Linde/BOC) charged me a rate of $0.050276 per megajoule for reticulated LPG-plus a service fee.
Buy an air conditioner for heating.
The rated operating temperature of modern air conditioners can even be reduced to an outdoor temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius. Even Thredbo Village is fine.
Thanks Tim, I will look at which manufacturers think their heat pumps work at temperatures as low as Thredbo-usually no less than minus 10C
Check the heat pump efficiency versus temperature table and understand the cost of where you live.
Yes, air source heat pumps can indeed work at minus 20 C outdoor air temperature. However, the coefficient of performance will hardly reach 1.5, so a typical Canadian system will be a hybrid system of electric air or ground source heat pump, plus a high-efficiency gas stove rated at around 95%.
The most efficient Canadian home can be heated at a temperature of minus 20 with a power of 1300 watts and cooled by adding ice cubes to the beverage.
I'm curious, this article seems to be very alternative, and it doesn't mention wood burning stoves, wood chip stoves or other biomass. Does Australia not use wood chip heaters?
Randy Wester, you said: "Canada's most efficient home can be heated with 1,300 watts at a temperature of minus 20..."
Obviously there are many "passive" buildings in Canada now. https://www.passivehousecanada.com/projects/
Passive houses are called this because they are usually designed to maintain a comfortable temperature without the need for "active" heating and cooling like furnaces and air conditioners.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/passive-house-highrises-1.4437973
According to the Canadian government website to reheat and cool the heat pump:
In Canada, where the temperature may be lower than –30°C, ground source systems can operate more efficiently because they take advantage of warmer, more stable ground temperatures. The typical water temperature entering the ground source heat pump is usually higher than 0°C. In the coldest winter, the COP of most systems is about 3.
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy-efficiency/energy-star-canada/about/energy-star-announcements/publications/heating-and-cooling-heat-pump/6817
The simple message is: Even in Canada, you don't need to burn things to get useful heating (or cooling) in your home.
This is completely correct. It is entirely possible to use a ground source heat pump to heat houses in Alberta, provided it is a drilling system, because the ground here freezes to a depth of 8 feet, especially if you start to draw from it The heat is 5 degrees Celsius in the morning in late summer.
Part of what you said is correct, burning at home is unnecessary. But power plants need to burn, otherwise there will be no electricity.
Canada’s climate varies greatly, and most people live in areas served by large hydroelectric power plants. But the hydropower ties between Alberta and Ontario and Quebec are no closer than Queensland and Western Australia. There is a connection to BC Hydro, about 800 MW, but they got the first batch, and they spend the winter at the same time of the year.
The remaining story is that until recently, Alberta's electricity was about 50% coal and 40% natural gas. The carbon emissions at a COP of 3% and a coal power efficiency of 40% are much higher than that of a 97% gas stove. Don't believe me, calculate KWh and Kg carbon by yourself.
Now, by 2021, electricity will be 85% natural gas, plus some imported hybrid power, 5% water, sawdust, wind and solar. The sun is negligible in winter, the wind is strongest in spring and autumn, and most of the river meltwater runoff also occurs in midsummer. Therefore, 90% of the electricity used in winter comes from natural gas.
Most of the natural gas power comes from simple cycle turbine "peak" and gas steam. I will generously call it 35% efficiency, and then we will reduce the line loss by 10%. Multiplying the performance coefficient by 3 times, but still can't reach the 97% efficiency of the gas stove in my basement!
The only way to reduce household carbon emissions is to install large-scale solar photovoltaic systems to make the house airtight and to use at least three layers of glass windows for heat insulation. By the way, these things are also suitable for hot climates, but some may be subject to property taxes, so you may not actually save a lot of money.
Ronald, you said in your article:
"No matter how old your reverse cycle air conditioner is, it may be economically better to use it for heating than gas. The only exception may be if you are in Melbourne and your air conditioner is very old and has the lowest efficiency ever. One of the air conditioners."
I want to know what the Melbourne energy consultant Tim Forcey would say, Ronald? I suggest it might have to be a very worn and outdated air conditioner.
Forcey assumes the supply of natural gas to households at a "very low price of US$0.02 per megajoule." – A little more than your specified Melbourne price of US$0.015/MJ.
In a RenewEconomy article titled "Does Home Need Natural Gas?" The fossil fuel industry tells the story of fighting for the future, author Tim Forcey, dated August 20, including:
In our home, we now use air-conditioning for heating, and the cost is only 1/3 of the now-retired pipeline gas. Our 2015 University of Melbourne research showed that some households can save more than US$1,000 per heating season, and this research has now been confirmed in thousands of households in Australia.
https://reneweconomy.com.au/households-want-gas-fossil-fuel-industry-telling-tales-as-it-fights-for-its-future/
Daikin Australia apparently claims:
When switching from a gas heater to a Daikin split system in New South Wales, heating operation costs can be saved by up to 63%.
https://www.facebook.com/DaikinAustralia/photos/a.979496045432479/4076752905706762
The message is simple: switch from gas to full electric.
There is no doubt that there is an air conditioner somewhere in Australia that performs poorly!
It's like crazy low-efficiency gas heaters. I have a client who installed an old inefficient pipeline gas heater outside the house. If any bird flies over the hot exhaust gas, it will burn immediately! almost…
Check the filter. This may be one of the reasons for the poor performance of the heater. Dirty filter.
When you try to burn gas/methane, some of the methane is still unburned.
Therefore, the unburned methane will contribute to global warming better than the carbon dioxide it may turn into.
Almost all the unburned methane in gas appliances is produced when it is ignited and turned off.
Therefore, depending on the setting of the thermostat, the oversized gas stove will cycle on and off more frequently.
Moreover, the number of cycles of a tankless water heater may be much more than that of a tank type device, so it may emit slightly less CO2 a year, but its CH4 emissions are 50 times.
Compared with domestic gas equipment, combined cycle gas turbine power plants are more efficient and have lower CH4 emissions because they do not have more than a few switching cycles in a year.
Our 10-year old house in Alberta, Canada needs about 7,000 kilowatt-hours of heat per month in the middle of winter, which will cost about US$1,300 in electricity bills and US$200 in natural gas bills. Therefore, air tightness and insulation are the key first steps towards electrification.
By 2020, about 90% of Alberta’s winter electricity will come from natural gas, all coal-fired power plants will be converted or shut down, and solar photovoltaic power generation in December will be negligible.
Look at... my high-efficiency electrical home
A Facebook group with 34,000 members uses air-conditioning for heating.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MyEfficientElectricHome
You have not calculated the power consumed by the fan. If we talk about the duct system, it will also increase the duct loss.
The gas system also has fans and ducts.
Unlike cooling where the heat emitted by the motor is the opposite of what the system is trying to do, the fan motor converts 100% of the electricity consumed when overcoming air friction in the duct into heat, so don’t worry?
I am surprised that bottled gas is not included in your analysis. ... It makes the main gas look cheap.
Therefore, in addition to the heat pump, I think it makes little economic sense to use a kettle instead of an electric kettle on the gas stove during the dark hours when the solar energy is not working. I now really enjoy the quieter operation when heating and the satisfying whistle when finished, I even use it when solar energy is available and it doesn't make economic sense!
Mark Stokes, in the interpreter of energy consultant Tim Forcey: How does an induction cooker work-and purge the air, published on June 2nd, beginning with (I emphasize in bold):
If you do not use gas for heating or heating at home (see our previous explanations 1 and 2), then there may only be one gas user left in your home: the stove.
Although your stove only burns a small amount of gas throughout the year, you may still receive a large gas bill, mainly to maintain the connection to the gas network. It's time to reconsider whether you want to "cook with gas" and would rather "cook with an induction cooker."
https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/explainer-how-induction-cooktops-work-and-clear-the-air/
Forcey also talked about gas: "It is flammable, explosive, and can produce toxic and even fatal by-products when used."
The message is simple: switch from gas to full electric-cheaper, safer, and healthier.
This is true for the fixed cost of gas connections. I have heat pumps for heating and cooling, but city gas for water heating and stoves. I think I should install electric hot water and put the excess solar energy into it. Then I might re-spray the cooktop to drain the gas bottle and disconnect from the city gas so that I don’t have to buy a new cooktop (I have two, one of which is part of the large oven)
Or just get an induction cooker instead of surrounding things.
I want to get gas-fired hot water, which is much bigger than the problem in this article.
Replaced with stored electric hot water, but I think you are not allowed to run in SA or let the electric hot water run in front of the instant gas hot water so that the latter can be filled up when needed.
There should be an article about this, because this is obviously the next step for those who own solar panels
Matt, try this article by Tim Forcey, entitled "Explainer: Why hot water heat pumps are great for homes with or without solar photovoltaics", dated May 29. https://reneweconomy.com.au/explainer-why-hot-water-heat-pumps are perfect for homes with or without solar PV/
Or this article by Michael Bloch on February 26, 2020: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/solar-hot-water-mb1421/
https://www.daikin.com.au/heatingwithdaikin?fbclid=IwAR3FCcmMSzvLHBPmTQWn5b43fZ-HYSZ7vjLfDYa2KjtAfD3X9XRav1_Kk2w
The comparison is the Daiken split system and the gas space heater, not the pipe. I am not sure if the savings in the piping system will be so significant.
I live in Melbourne and have gas pipe heating, and have been considering replacing the split system (I also have solar energy). But I hesitate to report that you cannot use the existing pipeline. My house is very small, with 3 bedrooms in the hallway, I really don’t want to install a split system in every room! But maybe you can use pipes, maybe a split system is enough to heat a small house, despite all the brick walls and corridors. I'm really not sure.
We use wood heaters, even if we have reverse cycle air conditioners (rarely used as heaters),... we cut firewood ourselves, so energy is cheaper than reverse cycle heating, with less ventilation,...but. I use the built-in fan to draw heat away from the surface of the wood stove, which has a significant impact on efficiency (less wood is burned)... and also run a small base fan to circulate the air around the room and remove excess heat from the chimney Take away, ... this has a huge impact on the thermal efficiency of the entire house, rather than most of the heat passing through the insulation layer next to the chimney exit, where the ceiling can easily reach 60 degrees Celsius. This ceiling heat comes from the air rising directly from the stove.. The flue is properly shielded and safe. This vertical fan not only makes the adjacent rooms warmer, but also leads to all bedrooms along the corridor. I recommend keeping the heat in the building envelope (rather than passing through pipes that lose heating and cooling in the roof cavity), which is more energy-efficient and much cheaper than installing pipes. Regardless of the energy, this applies to the source you use. Maybe some energy efficiency experts may comment,...I only have experience. Cheers Tim.
Yes, it makes sense that I would lose some efficiency through the pipeline, and I'm already in the situation of pipeline gas heating. I would love to adopt a ductless design, but I am not sure how this will affect the layout of my house unless a split system is large enough to accommodate the entire house.
The story I got is that I am happy to be corrected, the pipe heat pump "heater" will also be a pipe cooler, and the existing pipes are not well insulated enough to transport cold air without condensing outside on the pipes. The inference seems to be that pipes are an important source of heat loss, reducing heating efficiency. Not all the heat from the heater can reach the room.
I want to question your hypothesis that in Australia, our coal-fired power plants produce only about 1 kg of carbon dioxide for every 1 kWh of electricity produced.
Powered https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjjmcCy4sjyAhV1lOYKHbXeA4EQFnoECCIQAQ&url=https://noECCIQAQ&url=https://uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjjmcCy4sjyAhV1lOYKHbXeA4EQFnoECCIQAQ 2FCO2 -spez/index_e.php&usg=AOvVaw0MeQbc3NY9VkpvpCxmbJH- It is recommended (scroll down to the bottom of the page) that hard coal can only produce 1 kg CO2 / kWh on average-We have supercritical plants and ultra-supercritical plants in Germany-but in Australia, we seem to only have Old subcritical power plants are therefore considered to be at the low end of the efficiency rating-and usually use lower quality coal (such as lignite in Victoria). I think our coal station will mainly strive to achieve a net thermal efficiency of 35%. Looking at the graph, this shows that we may produce 20-30% more carbon dioxide-so close to 1.25 kg of carbon dioxide/kWh of electricity generation. But, of course, the energy of a power station is different from that of a home-usually about 15% will be lost in transformers, transmission lines, distribution lines, etc., and only 85% will be used for your reverse cycle air-conditioning agent. That is, 1.25 / 0.85 = 1.47 kg CO2 / kWh actual energy consumed.
We are connected to NG, the grid and solar energy at the same time, but here in Perth we solve the problem by not using any of the above-mentioned home heating sources (or wood)-many years ago we connected NG when we bought the house-but we only Used for barbecues and historic gas ovens.
Quite simply, when the weather is cold (for Perth), we just need to wear an extra jacket, or wear an old pajamas at home at night. Zero (0) additional carbon dioxide...
In summer, we only use air-conditioning for cooling very, very occasionally-and then mainly from solar photovoltaic...
It's like driving a car-I think it can greatly save efficiency and reduce emissions based on personal behavior.
When considering mining emissions and approximately 7% of transmission losses, I am sure that the average Australian coal consumes more than 1 kilogram of carbon dioxide per kilowatt-hour of power generation. But I used a good integer of 1 kg per kilowatt-hour, because even if the number of balls is very low, the emission advantage of using a heat pump to heat the gas is very obvious.
Great article, Ronald, thanks. Compared with operating costs, capital costs may be more to say.
In colder areas, such as the Blue Mountains in western Sydney, the required heater size means that if an electric reverse cycle regulator is to be installed, it is usually necessary to install additional electrical capacity in the home.
Since the external temperature in winter is usually close to 0 degrees Celsius, this requirement is even more prominent. In this case, even modern electric heaters have a coefficient of performance of about 1.3, which is much lower than the efficiency numbers you usually express. The heater must be large enough to cope with when it is most needed. Therefore, its kWh rating will be similar to that of an equivalent gas heater, instead of about 3.5 times as implied in your article. In addition, any air source electric heater must be a more expensive type that can be cycled to inefficient resistance heating to prevent the external condenser coil from freezing when the external temperature is below 4 degrees Celsius. (Ground-source electric heaters are another option, but these are more expensive to install.)
Therefore, in colder regions, the capital cost of electric heating is usually much higher than equivalent gas heating.
Kenkland, you said: "In this case, even a modern electric heater has a coefficient of performance of about 1.3, which is much lower than the efficiency figure you usually express."
Where did you get the number "1.3", Ken?
It seems that for a range of output temperatures (ie 67 °C, 59 °C, 51 °C, 43 °C, and 35 °C), an air source heat pump using R32 refrigerant for space heating shows that at 0 °C ambient input air temperature, CoP is significantly higher than 2.0-see: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-COP-h-of-air-source-heat-pump-operated-with-R32-Outdoor air supply is insufficient_fig2_320762600
I have a split reverse cycle air conditioner with a capacity of 5.0 kW (cooling)/6.0 kW (heating), using R32 refrigerant. I provide heating and cooling for two rooms in Lithgow. The minimum ambient temperature of Lithgow can be reduced to -8 °C-still much higher than the air conditioner's minimum operating limit of -15 °C. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_063224_All.shtml
Before I installed the air conditioner in 2017, I had a flue gas space heater. Air conditioners are definitely much cheaper than gas heaters. I can use the energy of solar photovoltaic panels to warm up the room during the day to save even more.
I also have an air-source heat pump hot water system (using R744 refrigerant) and a 250-liter storage tank, which is programmed to run from 10 am to utilize the energy of the solar photovoltaic system.
In my experience, air source heat pumps work satisfactorily in Lithgow, so they may be equally effective in Blue Mountains.
I recently installed a 13.5 kWh solar system (36 sky-ply panels; Fronius inverters, no batteries) in Canberra. All of this is achieved through your Solarquotes system. I am very satisfied-thank you. Currently, we use Lennox piped gas heating systems and Lennox air conditioners/coolers made in the United States in the summer. The equipment is about 15 years old, so although it is well maintained, I cannot expect it to last longer. One of the reasons we use this gas heating system is because we have a valuable piano and artwork, and we found that our original electric heater dried us, and our piano and artwork were also dried. The Lennox system is equipped with a humidifier that can be set according to the outdoor temperature-this has proven to be beneficial especially in Canberra's dry and hot environment. I really want to read your latest article on the advantages and disadvantages of reverse circulation heaters relative to gas, and thank you very much for any comments after taking into account my above factors. Is there a reverse cycle system (heating and cooling) that will not make us feel dry, and it is important to be gentle on the piano? One of the reasons I installed a large photovoltaic system is that if I cannot/should not replace the current gas heating system, it may increase electricity consumption. Thanks for your comments/suggestions.
There are "precision" air conditioners that can accurately control the humidity and ground temperature level, and are used in places with sensitive artwork or electronic equipment. Unfortunately, I don’t know how much these might make you back down or which brands are the best. But I doubt whether you need the kind used in art galleries or server rooms.
I recommend looking for an air conditioner that can control the humidity level well and set it at a level that you think is comfortable.
I don't know how you came up with the gas price in Perth. I only pay 2.6c for each MJ, there are some plans available or even less.
That is the cheapest I found from AGL. If you let me know the name of your plan, I will update this article.
I use the Kleenheat monthly smart saver, and there is a 3% RAC membership discount. 9.52c per unit (one unit in Western Australia is 3.6MJ), so 9.52 divided by 3.6 equals 2.6c per MJ. Other costs are 22.23c per day for supply fees and quarterly account fees of approximately $5.
thank you very much. I saw that my mistake was to think that a unit of WA is megajoules, not kilowatt hours. I have corrected the article to reflect the lower gasoline prices.
With the recent Hydronic installation, our supplier suggested that the heat pump needs to be large to get the water temperature in the Mornington Peninsula to the correct range. So we are working hard. We chose to recycle water to avoid drying the ducted air around the house. What is your opinion on how to use electric heat pumps to supply hot water to radiators? Is this feasible and how to modify it. By the way, the Victorian government is rumored to be unable to use natural gas after 2025! Any relevant information?
Forcey emphasized that due to the reduced cost of heat pumps and induction cookers, gas is no longer needed to heat your house and water or cook food. "Australians waste billions of dollars every year by burning natural gas at home. There are now cheaper options," he said.
http://www.jackmeehan.media/politics/gas-fired-recovery/
See also Tim Forcey's comment: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/air-conditioners-vs-gas-heating/#comment-1200829
Bruce Robertson (natural gas analyst at IEEFA) said in the following video at 0:01:22 time interval: "Australia has too much natural gas. We are swimming in the gas."
I found the syntax in your Forcey reference to Alistair to be a bit ambiguous/confusing.
Putting carbon dioxide emissions aside for the time being, did he say that the prices of heat pumps and induction cookers have fallen enough to make their use more economically advantageous than continuing to use existing natural gas equipment, or did he say ("As a cost... .. come down") Will they benefit financially in the future (but maybe not yet)?
My experience is that current heat pumps are still quite expensive (in terms of capital cost) and have a relatively short lifespan-if you already have serviceable NG water heaters (I don't have them), it is difficult to justify them. From this point of view, a friend of mine just replaced his solar (thermal) HWS for about $4,000-he reported that this rarely requires a boost, and he is 34 years old-and it is still It works well, the only reason is that the change is that the box surrounding the panel is falling apart. His water tank is stainless steel-but this brand has been discontinued in Perth or other places as far as I know. This is a pity, because the performance of the replacement seems to be quite poor, as are the possible service life and ongoing maintenance costs.
I have a fully functional ceramic electric stove and I find it difficult to justify replacing it (and all our pots and pans) with an induction stove. Especially when the efficiency only goes from about 74% to 85% (depending on the site you are viewing). Converting our old gas ovens to electric stoves will also involve major costs-because when we get rooftop photovoltaics, the meter box is completely full-so in addition to the cost of the oven, we have to pay a lot of rewiring costs, and Completely replace our meter box with a larger meter box and rewire (including bricklaying, new boxes, new panels, new circuit breakers, etc.)-as Alex points out below. Save NG connection fees (our natural gas usage is very, very moderate), otherwise it is almost impossible to cover our main costs.
Yes — I 100% agree (from a greenhouse gas perspective) that NG must leave new housing development projects — and everything else — but I feel that even these will be disadvantaged by the additional costs.
There is a difference between replacing existing functional equipment and installing new equipment or replacing old equipment that has failed.
Ian Thompson, I think the statement cited by Tim Fauci is very clear and unambiguous: “Australians waste billions of dollars in burning natural gas at home every year. There are cheaper options now.”
Regarding the debate about the cost of transitioning to all-electric equipment in your home, I would like to draw your (and anyone else) attention to the column in the conversation of climate scientists James Dyke, Robert Watson, and Wolfgang Knorr on April 22, including (I The emphasis is on bold text):
We have painfully realized that the idea of net zero has permitted a reckless knight's "burn now, pay later" method, which has seen carbon emissions continue to soar...
Now is the time to express our fears and be honest with the wider society. The current net-zero policy will not keep the temperature increase within 1.5°C, because they never intended to do so. They were and are driven by the need to protect business as usual, not the climate. If we want to ensure people’s safety, we now need to reduce carbon emissions on a large scale and sustainably.
Who will pay for our/human knighthood?
Dr. James Hansen, Director of Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions at Columbia University, and Dr. Sato Makiko Sato, a senior staff member at Columbia University, released their July temperature update: Faust payment will be due on August 13th and will be in (bold text) My focus):
The Faust payment that we noticed in 1990 [7] and discussed in detail elsewhere [8] is now due. Dr. Faust had to pay his debts himself. We have bequeathed it to our children and grandchildren.
I suggest that if you think you may still be "vertical" in the 2030s, when the earth system may have risen to the global average warming threshold of 1.5°C (relative to the pre-Holocene industrial era), you may also be fine, That is the "burn now, pay later" method.
However, at the same time, the risk of crop failure will increase disproportionately between 1.5 and 2°C, so exceeding the 1.5°C threshold will pose a threat to global food security.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308521X18307674
Sorry for not syncing with your spell immediately-but you don't seem to have considered your comment...!
Tim Forcey's "clear and unambiguous" observations cannot be generalized like you; because when it comes to "wasting billions of dollars each year," the situation is clearly "horse for courses." In my own special case, yes, we can replace the old gas oven with electricity-but the cost (in our personal case) will prove to be terrible, and we will never and never remain in our Recover additional costs during the life cycle. Therefore, your "broad" spell has been exceptionally proven wrong. Tim may mean "some Australians... are wasting billions...".
IMHO, the problem is not the cost, but the desire to reduce/eliminate greenhouse gases. Some people will save money for replacing gasoline, some will not. You seem to be blinded by your ideology.
Putting the (junk) cost argument aside, let us consider this issue carefully.
Suppose I do not use natural gas anymore, but start to use more electricity. I have browsed many websites, and many people say that gas ovens are faster than electric heating and use very little gas during operation-but some people say that electric heating is faster. Some people say that the rated power of the electric oven is 2.4kW, but this is obviously garbage (except during the preheating period), because both the gas oven and the electric oven are regulated by their thermostats. I can't find anything to say that electric is more effective (in terms of energy), and sometimes the opposite is true, so the jury is over-I will assume that their energy use is somewhat similar. Therefore, we no longer directly consume 1 kWh of gas (or MJ equivalent) in our old gas oven, but obtain 1 kWh of electricity from the grid to accomplish the same work.
But Jeffrey-will the (extra) electricity come from-now, during the transition period? I can say from my rooftop photovoltaic power generation, but we usually cook after sunset-anyway, even if we cook ahead of time, it just means reducing exports to save greenhouse gases elsewhere-my following observations are still Be applicable. The current reality is that during the transition period, coal or natural gas stations will have to work harder to provide additional power. Moreover, its thermal efficiency may be around 35%, so it must burn 1 kWh divided by 35% = 1 / 0.35 = 2.86 kWh of extra NG to generate the 1 kWh of energy I need to replace. So, the efficiency of transmission to my home may be only 85%-but let's be honest, the efficiency is 90%. Therefore, the power station must input slightly more than 2.86 kWh into the grid before I can recover the 1 kWh we need. In fact, 2.86 / 90% = 3.2 kWh of heat energy.
What do you say, Jeffrey? – Do you want me to emit 320% (or more) of greenhouse gases by purchasing an electric oven, not what I am currently doing? Also, do you want me to contribute more to the landfill and spend more energy to make this flash electric oven substitute? Who is more responsible now?
Of course, I assume that there is no "back-up" renewable energy just "floating"-being cut-ready to make up for my increased demand. If so, why? Why hasn't it been used yet? Are there any unresolved technical issues? Prove to me that my additional needs can be met with reduced renewable energy!
At the time of writing this article, Western Australia hardly produces any solar energy and very little wind energy-so I think my assumption is very reliable-renewable energy cannot provide the extra 1 kWh required. SA is running 1.36GW of NG, I think Wind may remain at 0.54GW (no power curtailment), and solar energy is zero. If in fact some electricity must come from coal, then even if it is not greenhouse gas equivalent (due to fugitive emissions), carbon dioxide emissions will increase.
So, Jeffrey-until we have fully renewable power generation capacity to meet demand, I think the more responsible and lower cost option for me and the environment is to continue to use natural gas. And, I think, for many other people. Of course, once we have technologically fully renewable capabilities, the situation will change-I agree with this.
Maybe there is another agenda here?
Ian Thompson, if for some reason you don’t want to continue to live in your current home after the 2020s, then I don’t expect you to recover the cost of replacing the "old gas oven".
What I think you haven’t understood is that as more current natural gas customers find that the cost of switching to natural gas is much lower, especially for heating and hot water, and they do switch, then any remaining natural gas consumers Failure or failure to choose All Appliances in the future will increase the risk of billing, because fewer households and businesses will share the cost of maintaining gas network services.
As more and more natural gas customers are lost and natural gas demand decreases, the outflow may develop into a so-called "death spiral." I suggest that alternatives such as biogas and hydrogen are unlikely to be cost-competitive to help the natural gas distribution network remain viable, so the natural gas network is facing a “stranded asset”, possibly in as little as 15 years or even earlier.
In 2008, when the Queen of England asked why the credit crisis occurred, the British Academy after many introspections replied that “denial psychology” caused “the collective imagination of many smart people to fail, both in this country and internationally. The risks faced by the entire system." https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/jul/26/monarchy-credit-crunch
I think you, Ian, and others like you, are "failure of imagination" and "psychology of denial" about the speed and scale of energy conversion possibilities.
So you advocate our very moderate natural gas users, if our current contribution to greenhouse gases comes from this source three times (albeit temporarily)-until renewable energy reaches what they can (no fossil fuel reserve and considerable contribution) to provide us To the point where the energy is needed. What does "denial" have to do with my desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
Sorry, it's Geoffrey in the 2020s-I don't think renewable energy will reach this state anytime soon. Yes, I have anticipated your "death spiral" agenda-but you need to understand that even if domestic use ends, your agenda will only be until we have enough and technically qualified renewable energy to make up for this loss Will result in more coal and natural gas consumption in power stations (and therefore possibly 3 times the greenhouse gas emissions).
Your statement that "electricity is cheaper than natural gas" is currently both misleading and unrepresentative in many cases. A lesson in economics, Jeffrey-a person who prepaid $5,000 (the government’s nearly equivalent of $5,000) for a solar system, and then received a bill for $0, could hardly claim that his energy cost was zero. By extension, in fact, my monthly gas bill may be a bit more expensive than the equivalent amount of electricity, which in no way means that it is cheaper for me to switch to electricity. Lesson learned-you also need to consider the cost of capital amortization.
It’s just you know Jeffrey-when we are close to 100% renewable electricity and don’t have to rely on additional coal and/or natural gas consumption, I might buy a new electric oven-if I'm still alive-or if a gas oven Decide whether to pack irretrievably, or when and whether gas prices will rise, or even earlier. In my case, I do have rooftop photovoltaics, reverse cycle A/C, and rooftop solar (thermal) HWS. We do not use the 40 kW room heating or the cooling capacity of our home-the total energy of our two methods throughout the year is close to 0 (zero). We try to use PV to improve HWS only when we must and can (and plan our use of it).
I'm doing my best-why don't you...
Ian Thompson (in response to your comment on August 30, 2021 at 6:58 pm), you said: "Sorry, it's the 2020s, Geoffrey-I don't think renewable energy will reach this state anytime soon."
As of September 1, 2021, there are 8 years and 4 months (or 3044 days) from the beginning of the 2030s. If we/human beings are willing to do this, I suggest that a lot of things will happen during that time-see: https://global100restrategygroup.org/
Please don't teach me the amortization of photovoltaic systems-ICYMI, please refer to: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/solar-calculator/
You said: I'm doing my thing
International Maritime Organization, indeed you must be, Ian-to downplay/depreciate the energy transition and promote more natural gas use, because "unorganized emissions"/methane leaks are not formally taken into account and therefore are "dirty" than coal. I suggest that your greenhouse gas emission footprint is far worse than what you indicate when you continue to use natural gas. But hey—things you didn’t see or deliberately ignored, very convenient to soothe your conscience, eh, Ian? https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/26/methane-released-in-gas-production-means-australias-emissions-may-be-10-higher-than-reported https://www .reuters.com/article/us-climatechange-methane-satellites-insi-idUSKBN23W3K4 https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Weapons-of-Gas-Destruction-WEB.pdf
I think you are one of these so-called "inactive elements" referred to by Michael E Mann:
But I called it "inactive" and didn't give up. They just moved from tough denials to a series of new strategies that I described in the book as the new climate war.
In many of your comments (described by Mann), I saw the same classic "inactive" strategy on this blog: rejection; deflection; and division. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/27/climatologist-michael-e-mann-doomism-climate-crisis-interview
You said: "...In fact, my monthly gas bill may be a bit more expensive than the equivalent amount of electricity, which in no way means that it is cheaper for me to switch to electricity."
This may be the case now, but you have overlooked (again, the obvious "failure of imagination") what might happen to natural gas prices and supplies in the near future.
SA Senator Rex Patrick tweeted on August 31 (including 1:57 video):
How can we become the world's largest natural gas exporter, yet we need a natural gas import terminal? The domestic natural gas market is getting smaller and smaller, but the price of gas is rising. How can it be possible? The answer is simple-cartels, monopolies and overall policy failures.
https://twitter.com/Senator_Patrick/status/1432561416288935938
Sorry, Jeffrey-I think your philosophy/ agenda/ motives lack completeness and are close to extortion, some are obviously stupid. I must assume that you lack the technical ability to understand the simplest calculations (and, you have already proven this before).
No, Geoffrey, I am not suggesting that we burn more NG-never. My suggestion is that we will not burn three times the amount of NG (or coal) produced, rather than the smaller amount of natural gas currently used by a small number of people. I am very grateful that if we do it your way, after about 5-10 years, you will be able to run around waving your hands (chicken style) in the air, saying "Look, see-the source of escape in the form of methane in the atmosphere is still Increasing-the sadness is us-pay, pay".
Once again, you confuse the present and the future. I am not saying that I will continue to burn natural gas if the price soars, nor am I suggesting that I will continue to burn natural gas once renewable energy is technically competitive. I just suggest that, in my case, currently (not in the future) replacing the gas oven with an electric oven will result in:
1. Triple the greenhouse gas contribution I made from this source, and 2. Prove to be very expensive for me-I guess it is also true for many others.
Again, I’m sorry, if you think I’m “teaching” you about amortization-this is not all about you-you often make completely wrong statements about renewable cost comparisons-so you want to solve this imbalance problem It's not just you. I gave you the benefit of doubt-many of your statements seem to indicate your lack of financial understanding. Maybe just cheating, not?
Why don’t you focus on making renewable energy cost-effective and sufficient to meet demand-currently the only state that does not seem to require fossil fuels is Tasmania-even though they are even produced from some natural gas from time to time (I guess the grid is stable ). Instead of blackmailing the public to increasingly replace them with new renewable energy power stations-in a deceptive way-this seems to be your trick.
For some households who wish to switch from gas to electric heating, hot water and/or cooking, one challenge is that their electricity supply may not be able to handle the increased power of appliances.
This may mean major and expensive upgrades to its electrical connections and the need to change or replace its main circuit board.
This is a common problem with price-built housing development-minimum electrical connections are installed, and it is assumed that natural gas supplies most of the energy for the home.
welcome everybody. I initiated this discussion.
Thanks for your various comments. We have left the tangent of philosophy. I am seeking "practical" advice from an HVAC engineer or similar person. As mentioned earlier, I have a gas boiler to supply the hydraulic heating system. I don't want ducted air. For health reasons, I prefer hot water radiators. The device can provide up to 40 kilowatts of energy to heat water up to 80 degrees. I discussed the "heat pump" option with my supplier, and the response detailed below basically says that this is not feasible after 12 kW. Please read the link below.
https://dpphydronics.com.au/is-a-heat-pump-suitable-for-your-hydronic-heating-system/
If I choose to abandon natural gas and/or the supply of natural gas ceases or becomes unsustainable, can anyone please further explain what options I have in the future.
I can emphasize that I am looking for a "practical" feasible solution, not a philosophical essay. Bridge
Alistair, wow, why does your home need 40 kW heating capacity? Do you really need to use all of this capacity? According to the link you provided:
In Australia, we have large houses that require an average of 20 kilowatts of heat energy. A 20kW heat pump is a very, very large heat pump with matching prices.
In my opinion, depending on your specified heating needs, your house is large, or your house has low thermal efficiency, or both.
Instead, I suggest that you may need to consider improving the thermal efficiency of the house envelope. Try to eliminate all airflow generated by the building envelope structure air leakage (ie doors, windows, vents, etc.), improve the insulation of the building envelope structure if possible, and may consider using high-performance double Layer glass replaces single layer glass (at least in the living area). These are one-time costs, not recurring operating costs.
You said: "...After 12 kilowatts, this is not feasible."
A quick web search revealed that the data sheets for Stiebel Eltron models WPL 25 AC (3 phase) and WPL 25 ACS (1 phase) both provide a heat output of 14 kW. There is also a commercial unit model WPL 57 (3-phase only), which provides a heat output of 31 kW. Anything (within the limits of the laws of physics) is possible. https://www.stiebel-eltron.com.au/downloads
There may be other similar brands/models, but do you really need 40 kW of heat, Alistair?
I suggest that you need to discuss your very special situation and needs with a suitable and competent professional energy consultant to get the best practical advice.
Thank you for your input, I will continue to work hard.
This is newly built and we moved in two months ago. This house (according to all new buildings of Vic) has exceeded a 6-star energy rating, and all our windows have been thermally broken DBL glass. R4 and all exterior walls R6 and interior walls R3 under the insulation floor and ceiling R8 plus insulation blankets, under the Colourbond roof. The house is built of masonry. Our wind speed rating is N2 because we can overlook Port Phillip Bay and the wind speed may exceed 130 km/h. So yes, our DPP consultant calculated our needs. There are 13 panel radiators and two towel rails in a 20 square meter house, which is exactly what we need. 40 kilowatts!
So, when the Victorian government stops natural gas supply in 2025, where can a professional energy consultant (probably a Finn) help me plan to switch to heat pumps in due course? Of course, before signing the contract, I did have this dialogue with my water supplier because we prefer not to use natural gas, but as you can see from the information I posted, we can never reach enough Kw Make it work!
In the near future, new residential developments in Victoria may not be allowed to connect to natural gas, but existing users I know of have no plans to cut off natural gas.
The maximum heating capacity I have used in Australia is about 3 kilowatts. If someone turns on the resistance heater at the same time as the air conditioner, it may be 5. This heating figure of 40 kilowatts makes me feel that the circulation system must dissipate a lot of heat to the ground. If these systems do not follow European installation standards, a large amount of heat may be lost to the foundation of the building and then to the groundwater.
The good news is that if the heat pump is efficient, it should consume less than 10 kilowatts of electricity-although this is still a lot.
Update: But compared with a reasonably efficient heat pump, the use of gas will result in higher operating costs.
Alistair, from a Renew article published on July 3, 2018, titled "Heating Case Study: Converting Gas into a Heat Pump Cycle", which includes:
In a project completed in November 2017, the owner replaced the gas boiler on the existing circulating heating system with an electric heat pump, while retaining the original 25-year-old radiator.
The owner, Peter Hormann, said that they have done a lot of work to check whether the heat pump system can provide enough heat for the 25-year-old radiator to meet their winter heating needs. An important consideration is the low operating temperature of the heat pump system. Compared to the 70°C of the gas-fired circulating boiler, the maximum efficiency of 55°C is the highest (although it can be operated up to 60°C or 65°C).
When developing the upgrade option, they limited the temperature of the old gas boiler to 55 °C in two winters in Melbourne to test the effectiveness of the existing radiator at a lower system operating temperature. “We found that the lower the radiator temperature, the slower the room heating, and it takes an additional 30 minutes to raise the house from a standby temperature of 17 °C to a'comfortable' temperature of 21 °C," Peter said. To compensate, their home thermostat is programmed to start earlier in the morning and evening heating period.
https://renew.org.au/renew-magazine/heating/gas-to-heat-pump-hydronic/
I suggest that you might want to try a similar test on the current gas cycle heating system and observe the results before moving to a heat pump?
The case study given in the link showed me that it is possible to replace a 40 kW gas boiler with a 14 kW output heat pump with a buffer storage tank, although the slope heating response is slower.
If possible, try to improve the insulation of the pipe network between the gas boiler and the radiator.
Now I am really crazy! !
I was quoted with a 40 kW Hydronic boiler, but checking the installation seems that I received a 30Kw Bosch Condens 5000W unit. ZSB-302A.
However, you said that the maximum kilowatts in Australia is 3-5 kilowatts. Now this really upsets me!
Given that I have an indoor radiator, how does the system "dissipate a lot of heat to the ground" and "generate heat to the building foundation and groundwater". Please explain; I am looking for a solution but I am getting very confused because my Hydonic supplier has confirmed that the boiler unit I own is the most popular choice in Victoria, so I am not alone! ! It's great to have an "offline" chat over the phone, because I feel that I need to solve this problem, and I will encounter several non-terminating rabbit holes. Bridge
Okay, now I know what you have-a 30Kw Bosch Condens 5000W device. ZSB-302A — I don't know why you were told 40 kilowatts, but this device will emit about 30 kilowatts of continuous heat. It obviously has an efficiency of 90%, which is very good for gas appliances. In addition, it should not heat your foundation more than other traditional heating. If you use an efficient heat pump for heating instead of a gas boiler, your operating costs should be much lower. How much lower will depend on how much you pay for natural gas and electricity, as well as your solar output and feed-in tariff.
I mentioned the 5 kW figure for heating just to let you know that I am not an expert in providing large amounts of heat to houses.
Thanks again Jeff, thanks for your thoughts. The system uses Pex-al-pex pipes and 60mm rubber lagging, so I think this is reasonable.
I may have overlooked the beauty of mentioning it in its current configuration (ie gas). There has never been a great performance of warmth. The operation of using the Google NEST thermostat is very good, and the bill is very moderate.
Thanks again for your input. In due course, when I am ready to switch to a heat pump, I know where to go. Bridge
Please keep the SolarQuotes blog constructive and useful through the following 4 rules:
1. Preferred real name-you should be happy to add your name to your comment. 2. Put down the weapon. 3. Assume positive intentions. 4. If you are in the solar industry-try to understand the truth, not to sell. 5. Please keep the subject.
Notify me of followup comments via e-mail.
Notify me of new posts via email.
Read the "Solar Energy Guide" online for free!
Are you ready to get a solar quote?
Get up to 3 free quotes through our service
We carefully review all
Our installers and your quotations are zero obligations
Download the first chapter of the "Guide to Solar Energy" written by Finn Peacock, founder of SolarQuotes, for free! You will also begin to receive the SolarQuotes weekly newsletter to keep you informed about all the latest developments in the solar field in Australia.
We respect your privacy and you can opt out of the newsletter at any time.