Steve's Question #2

How does a heat pump work?

The basic premis here is to think about heat moving, whether that is you heating your house (bringing heat into your home from the outside) or whether you are cooling your house (heat being forced from inside your house to the outside).

So while it is common to think about a window air conditioner bringing cold air into your home, it is easier to understand the process if you think about heat being removed from the air. That heat is pushed out the back coils.

It may be helpful to think about your refrigerator. I am sure you have noticed that refrigerators tend to be warm on the outside. This heat is two part. One part is the heat created from the compressor (which is what you might hear click on and run from time to time). The other part is the heat that is being pulled out of the food. When you put a warm beverage in the refrigerator and close the door, the compressor pulls the heat out of the liquid and pushes it out the coils on the backside (or the bottom).

With the goal of keeping things short I will stop here for now, and pick it up again later.

Honeywell has a nice flash presentation here

Dear Everyone This Is The "ARTICHOKE"

Dear Artichoke,

This is everyone.

love,

Matt

Artichoke was designed by Poul Henningsen in 1958. It may look familiar since so very many lights have copied it's design since. Just thought you all would like to meet the original.

Steven's Question #1

You keep talking about the electric heat as being 100%, do you really beleive in the 100%? If it really is 100%, why would we do anything but?

I do believe in electric heat being 100% efficient. That does not mean that it is going to be the cheapest heating source ,and it does not mean that it is the best choice for comfort. What it means is that as the electricity is turned into heat, 100% of the electricity is turned into usable heat.

If you want to compare the cost of heating you will need to do some conversions and then compare price of each fuel source. Btus are the most common unit used for this.

For electricity 1 kWh is equavalent to 3,413 Btus. For gas 1 therm is equavalent to 100,000 Btus. If electricity cost $0.08 per kWh and gas costs $1.35 per therm then:

1 million Btus of electricty costs: $23.44

1 million Btu's of gas costs: $13.50.

If this were the whole story the decision is easy. Gas is clearly cheaper. But this is not the whole story.

The average duct system in the US leaks 25-40% of the air outside of the heated space. Since this loss would be the same for gas or electric we can ignore it. But it is a significant cost (and it makes even electric heat less than 100% efficient, since a portion of the heat does not end up in the space you want it).

While we will ignore the small stuff (like fan efficiency, and holes in the house envelope) the other big piece we must consider is the gas furnace efficiency. The gas furnace efficiency tells you how much of your heat leaves the house thru the chimeny (often called a flue). A 60% furnace loses 40% of its heat, along with the poison gases, out the chimeny. So with that furnace for every 10 Btus you create by burning gas, 6 come into the house and 4 go up the chimeny and outside.

Adjusting our cost of 1 million Btus, to account for only the heat ending up in the house we get:

1 million Btus from gas (delivered into the house with a 60% furnace): $22.50

So under those circumstances they are very close (check your local rates to see it this is comparable to what you pay).

Heat pumps are a different story. Air source heat pumps provide heat at 2 to 4 times the efficiency of an electric furnace.

Skipping over the details, at the same rates as before here is a 92% gas furnace compared to an 18 SEER heat pump (this is heat delivered into the home assuming perfectly sealed ducting):

1 million Btus from 18 SEER heat pump: $7.56

1 million Btus from 92% gas furnace: $14.67

Sorry for all the numbers and so few pictures with this post. Maybe next time I will just post pictures, then the time after that we can start to calculate duct losses. . .

Do we get electricity from natural gas here in Oregon?

Yes, let me see if I can find a picture of the NW energy portfolio. . . Looks like NG is around 9% of the Northwest Electrical Resources. This suggests that he regiong currently gets more electrical power from conservation than from NG. But NG is still a significant portion since it can be called up at any time. Resources like wind and solar (currently too small to show up here) are only available when the wind is blowing or the sun is shining. I have heard a rumor that last year the wind did not blow for 15 days straight. So for that time period the wind farms did not produce a single watt of electricity.

Field Picture: Moldy Attic Hatch

Anyone out there curious what happens when none of the exhaust fans work in a house, and some of the ceiling has insulation and some does not?

Wonder no more:

This attic was insulated last year, along with the floor. The contractor did not put any insulation on the access to the attic. Therefore that access hatch was the coldest surface in the whole house.

Moisture always knows where the cold spots are and it will find them. It will condense on the surface. And days, if not hours later, mold will begin to show up.

Two lessons here:

1. Make sure your exhaust fans work. Hold up a piece of tissue paper to the vent to see if it will hold it up. If it falls you are not getting any airflow out of that fan. Check the vent path and think about replacing the fan.

2. When you go to insulate a portion of the home be consistent. By leaving small portions undone you will get surface temperature variations that will encourage condensation.

P.S. Answers to previous questions are still coming. . .

A Pilot Flame About Gas Furnaces

A long time ago in a land far far away I wrote about electric heaters, and how (if you ignore ducts) they are essentially 100% efficient. This is because all the heat produced from the coils ends up in the heated space.

To repeat, 100% of the heat that is created is brought into the space you are intending to heat. This is also true when considering the waste heat created by the fan motor, since that heat also ends up in the heated space.

Gas furnaces are a different beast altogether.
Since this is going on:

We cannot treat it like an electric furnace unless you want to wear one of these stylish head pieces around your house 24/7:

Your average natural gas exhaust contains: Benzo-a-Pyrene, benzene, toluene, carbon monoxide, soot, formaldehyde, radon gas, radon daughters, PCBs, DIOXINS, FURANS, dust, rust, olefins, waxes, tars, oxides, sulfuric acid, mercaptans, marticulates, oils, and lots of water vapor.

A rather intimidating list, but still shorter and relatively safer than the list you will find from burning coal. Which wasn't all that long ago.

Lots of these chemicals in your home will cause death, especially the carbon monoxide. Relatively small amounts of these in your home may cause flue-like symptoms. So if you have an old gas furnace and often feel sick in the winters you may want to have your unit serviced. Even if it costs you money to fix it. (Check with your local CAP if you absolutely cannot afford to service your unit.)

Without getting into too much detail your furnace is designed to exhaust these poisonous fumes out of your flue. Like the blue arrow in this picture:

Your furnace is designed to keep those gases separate from the air being circulated in your home. Much like putting your hands in the smoke of an open fire, the exhaust gas can be very hot still. For you all using gas furnaces to heat your homes, that is lost heat. The heat leaving your flue with the poisonous gasses is lost efficiency, because it does not end up in the space you are intending to heat. Furnaces are rated based on what % of the heat ends up in your home.

Older furnaces generally range between 50% and 70% efficient, meaning some furnaces push half the heat out the chimney.

Newer, high efficiency furnaces, can perform above 90% efficiency. These furnaces actually pull the heat out of the water vapor before they exhaust the air. Then they pump the water out separately from the air. At that efficiency the exhaust air is cool enough to vent thru PVC pipe like in this example:

At the price of natural gas these days furnace upgrades are getting shorter and shorter paybacks. I do not know enough about different models and manufacturers to recommend one over another, but I can tell you that upgrading your 70% furnace to a 90%+ is likely to have a much shorter financial payback than any of the new fangled solar electrical panels.

But they sure do look nice, don't they?

Wait. How did this picture of Jackie end up with the solar ones? Hmmmm, too late to take it out now I already posted.

Hello From Michigan

Over this last month and a half I have been drowning in my work. With the huge interest in the ductless heat pump systems, and the resurrected interest in home insulation (thanks to the especially cold weather streak) I am lucky to get to all my calls within 3 days let alone begin planning for what we should work on next. Guess this also shows me that I have not been doing a good job of finding time to relax and post here. I'll have to work on that.



I'm spending this holiday season with Brielle and our family in Michigan. This weekend we are near Boyne mountain. Traverse City is the closest city listed on the map here. Probably won't do any skiing but it sure is beautiful.

Being here has reminded me how much many of you pay to keep yourselves warm or cool during the extreme temperatures. It is in my plan to post on either duct work or gas furnaces this break we will see which one makes the cut.

Merry Christmas to you all. Stay warm and stay healthy. Let me know if you need any help with either.

google photo search

I ran a google photo search on a phase I had stuck in my mind. Here are my favorites:

Who do you think you are?

Dear Pandora,

Where do you get the nerve?

love,
Matt


Today Pandora described me this way "folk roots, repetitive melodic phrasing, extensive vamping, acoustic sonority, and minor key tonality." I just don't know what to think.

Ductless Heat Pump Installation

Here is a great example of a ductless heat pump installation. These home owners were looking at a $28k bid to install a ducted system in their home. They had used ceiling heat up until now. This unit has been successful in offseting most of their heating load in their 2000 sf home. It looks as good as a heating system can look, and only cost them $5k.


The covered refrigerant lines run up the wall on the outside of the home, just behind the wall unit.


After they finish their remodel a unit will also be installed on the other side of their home. That unit will control two heads, one on each floor. Total installation costs will be around $11k. No duct loses, much lower cycling loses, and a great rebate :).

The Humble Conservation Rig

Here is our humble conservation rig.







Fairly fuel efficient, classic white, with lots of room in the back for test equipment, CFL bulbs, high efficiency showerheads, and everything needed to crawl under homes in search of under-insulated spaces.

Light Bulb Side Note (then back to heating systems)

Now when you are intending to make light with electricity, instead of heat, your efficiency number is going to shift. Standard incandescent light bulbs have been creating light for us since Thomas Edison (or before if you credit those that did not file a patent). These bulbs create light from electricity by heating a wire up just like your toaster does; only they hold a different type of metal that intends to focus on the visible light spectrum instead of infrared.


While techs have created better filaments for light bulbs that last longer, and are slightly more efficient, we are still operating around 10%. Meaning that of the total amount of electricity that enters the bulb only 10% of it becomes visible light. The other 90% is emitted as heat. I am sure this does not come as a surprise as it is very easy to burn your hand when trying to switch out an incandescent bulb that had been on for a while.

(As a side note, the visible light is going to bounce around the room being absorbed by the surfaces until it is gone. When absorbed, i.e. stopped, that light will create a small amount of heat. So, one could say that a light bulb is 100% efficient at creating heat, because at the end of the day every watt of electricity that enters the bulb eventually becomes heat.)


While the efficiency of incandescents may get slightly better over the next few years it is highly unlikely that they will get anywhere near the efficiency of a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL). A CFL, just as a standard fluorescent, creates a ultraviolet light stream thru the center of the tube. I had the chance to see one a few weeks ago at a light show, and it looks exactly like a Star Wars light saber.


Generally speaking we do not see this portion of the light as it is hidden behind the white phosphor coating on the inside of the glass surface. As the ultraviolet light strikes the phosphors it excites them and they emit visible light. As a team these two create light 75% more efficiently than an incandescent, since less electricity is released as heat.

(Again, the light will bounce around the room until it becomes heat as well, but if you ever try to remove a CFL that has been on for a while you will find that they do not create nearly as much heat.)

And since the goal is to create visible light, these are a clear winner. Add to that that they have a lifespan 10x the lifespan of an incandescent and the fact that they cost more upfront is no longer an issue.

Giant Toaster in the Sky

I am frequently asked: "Is my baseboard/cadet/ceiling heat efficient?" In short, Yes. They are all essentialy giant toasters with different bells and whistles.

Electric heat, by its nature is 'efficient'. For every 1 watt of electricity it pulls out of the socket it creates exactely 1 watt of heat. That makes these units 100% efficient. Every single one of them. It does not matter if the Amish made them in the sticks of North Carolina, or whether Paul Harvey tells you one particular brand makes him happy, or whatever new name/approach a fancy marketer made up to sell their product. Every single one of these units is 100% efficient. Yes, every one.

The 50%+ savings frequently marketed by some of these units requries that you turn off your main heating system and only use this unit in the room that you are currently in, while the rest of your home is not heated (check the fine print for these details). If you do that there certainly could be some savings, but by its nature that electric heating box is 100% efficient just like your electric furnace (I may talk about duct systems some time in the future, but for now lets just assume that they carry all the heat into your house).

This is the limit of physics people, you just cannot make heat from nothing, and since you are trying to make heat there are no loses. It does not matter if they call it "infared-heat", or "liquid-heat", or "your-kids-will-now-listen-to-you-be-happy-and-quiet-Heat". Electric heat is electric heat. You are likely to see the same 'savings' if you buy a $15 space heater at Walmart, or you could see even more savings if you bought an electric blanket and turned all your heat off.

I do realize that often what people mean to ask is which option is cheaper, and what is going to make me more comfortable. Those are much harder questions to answer.

Heat Pumps Are Where It Is At

And ductless heat pumps are the coolest thing since before sliced bread.

All the efficiencies of a top shelf heat pump without all the duct loses and sky-high install prices. We are starting to market them as a retrofit option for homes with baseboard/ceiling heat. One of these units in the primary living area can serve most of the home with the most efficient heat available at 1/3 the cost of a ducted system.

Anyway way too much writing and not enough pictures:

See mrslim.com or Fujitsu for more information & pics.

Transpartisan Alliance

Just joined these guys :LINK:.

I posted about Joseph McCormic back in October 2006 and am excited to see something else happening. I am still not convinced that it is in my families/my communities best interest that I dive into national politics, but I do want to keep my ear to the rails, if you will.

Tears of Joy

When Brielle and I were married we were challenged to bring one another to "tears of joy" on a daily basis. While I don't not believe this is exactely what he had in mind I have been thinking about it lately. Maybe this one is a little more on spot:

Giant Pumkins! Ever Been?

Fall is here. This was 1:30 PM in the afternoon. First day we have seen this season with a not-so-slight chill in the air.




That's right folks, giant pumpkins. The fellow in the black tee is Dave Hancock a co-worker of mine. That beautiful gord on the scale was grown in his backyard.




Note the forklift.



The winners at this Weigh-Off were the bohemouths to the left and right of the scale. One of these weighed in at over 1300 lbs. Word on the street is that the world record is currently: Joe Jutras from North Scituate, Rhode Island. He brought a 1689 pound pumpkin to the Topsfield Fair GPC weigh-off in Topsfield, Ma. on September 29, 2007. If history holds true that will be beaten sometime this year.



A classic western showdown: goat style.



Brielle informed me that owning goats is now in our 5 year plan.

In the World of Fiber Optics

So I learned this week that all the fiber optic traffic for the entire city goes thru the room two doors down from my office. A fiber optic signal travels at 90 some % of the speed of light in at least 60 different colors. That is either one amazing light show, or enough information to choke a librarian. For you techno geeks this means that if I had a computer fast enough to receive the information, I could download files at a few gigabits per second. Or in other words it would take less than a minute to download all 3 Lord of the Rings movies, extended versions.

This is merely an example: I do not condone pirating movies. Our national laws deems such actions as illegal, and rightfully so. Besides with sites like THIS what else do you need?

Some Thoughts, Political or Not

I stumbled upon these words by Hans Rookmaaker today. They are in Modern Art And The Death Of A Culture volume 5 of his complete works (please stop clapping, I actually started at volume 5 so it just happens to sound more impressive than it actually is).

"I am very aware that the issues at stake are not just cultural and intellectual but also spiritual. What is involved is a whole way of thinking that leave out of account, and so largely negates, vital aspects of our humanity and our understanding of reality. Christians today must understand the spirit of the age. They must realize that the protesters and revolutionaries are often fighting against the same evils of society as they are themselves. But they must also see the inadequacy of all answers that do not tackle the root of the problem."

But it would be unfair to ignore the fact that this hardly even takes the edge off when the apparent "dissenters" do not cease to be so terribly insipid.

Can Reid guess who's speach is who's?

This blogger put the 4 nomination speaches in Wordle and is giving you the chance to guess which is who's.

Wordle

Excellent Presentation:Good Info

THIRST

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design crisis)