Submitted by Proper-Cheesecake602 t3_10lizr9 in baltimore
DirtyPolecat t1_j60o5l6 wrote
Reply to comment by TaquitoConnoisseur23 in is anyone else’s BGE bill crazy high??? by Proper-Cheesecake602
>The more heat the oil can store, the longer the heating element can stay off.
That was an excerpt from that "article" the other person posted. Even if it stays off longer, it will still need to stay on longer for the oil to reabsorb the heat it lost. Energy in = energy out still. The ONLY case where that doesn't apply is with a heat pump.
Personally, I use infrared quartz heaters and just point them at me.
TaquitoConnoisseur23 t1_j60rell wrote
Yep, heat pumps are amazing technology. It's a shame that so many people don't understand their benefits and overemphasize their weaknesses. That's part of the reason why people end up over-relying on space heaters and actually do more harm than good.
Ok-Beautiful-8403 t1_j61v8k8 wrote
i have gas heat. a family member has a heat pump. During the cold snap it really struggled, and in one bedroom the bed sheets froze. I've never heard of this happening before, but it made me feel happy to pay a bit more for gas heat.
PM-Ur-DadJokes t1_j627oz1 wrote
Heat pumps aren't designed or intended to provide sufficient heat alone on the coldest days. They will have an auxiliary backup...be it electric resistance heat strips, natural gas, oil, propane, etc, that provides assistance during the periods of coldest temperatures. It sounds like your family member's aux heat is not properly configured.
carbon56f t1_j6ibgbi wrote
if OP had been running a heat pump his bill would have been even crazier since he's trying to run his T stat at 72F. I agree heat pumps are a great thing and the disadvantages are overblown, however; one thing that I don't think we talk about enough when it comes to heat pumps is lowering expectations. You can have your heat pump set to 72F, when its in the teens outside and expect it to keep up. OP would have ended up using mainly strip heat, resulting in an enormous bill.
Part of adopting heat pumps is going to be to communicate to people that you need to keep your heat set low, and wear warm clothes inside in the winter. Far too people have this expectation to wear shorts and T shirts inside, while their heat is cranked up in the winter.
TaquitoConnoisseur23 t1_j6ilmtv wrote
It depends on what you consider an "enormous bill". A heatpump doesn't need to "keep up" to lower your bill. Every BTU that a heatpump produces is going to be cheaper than a BTU produced by resistance strips. Modern heat pumps have a COP >1 at temperatures well below what is seen here in MD...so they should be left running even after they no longer provide all of your needed heat.
With my thermostat set to 70, I only used 2 hours and 17 minutes of strip heat during last month's cold snap. I used less than 4 hours of heat strip all of last winter. That's not going to blow up my bill.
carbon56f t1_j6inic2 wrote
your heat pump experience does not seem to be anything close to the norm from what I've seen. In fact it seems downright unbelievable.
TaquitoConnoisseur23 t1_j6ip83d wrote
It's perfectly normal for those who understand the technology and have it installed/configured appropriately. For some additional background, this is not a state-of-the-art unit. It's a 3 ton, 2 stage Trane XL16i that was installed in 2006. This is a mid-tier system by today's standards. 2500 sq/ft home.
My Ecobee thermostat keeps track of the usage in each state. In December 2022, stage 1 usage was 292 hours. Stage 2 saw 66 hours. Aux usage was 2 hours and 17 minutes.
I also have an electric car...and my usage on my last bill was 1850kwh.
carbon56f t1_j6iprxj wrote
okay given the extra details I absolutely do not believe your claims. Heat pumps are the future, but there is no way you're running a heat pump at 70F in teens weather and only using strips for 2 hours over the course of several days. And definitely not from a unit from 2006.
TaquitoConnoisseur23 t1_j6iter7 wrote
I mean...believe what you want, but all your doing is demonstrating that you don't understand how to most efficiently utilize the technology. I track all of this pretty closely.
carbon56f t1_j6j87ts wrote
its frustrating cause these kind of unrealistic claims probably do more damage in the long run. This kind of similar to Tesla not being honest with winter range.
Also way to leave out that you have a second source of heat before you have to rely on strips. A VERY atypical heat pump installation.
TaquitoConnoisseur23 t1_j6jhxi5 wrote
They're not unrealistic claims...it's simply my experience with a very run-of-the-mill heat pump that I have optimized. This isn't some corporation being dishonest or using best-case scenario laboratory results. My heatpump results are real-world results.
Come on, man...as I already said, it's a two-stage heatpump. Heat 1 is the first stage of the heatpump. Heat 2 is the second stage of the heatpump. It's not an atypical heat pump installation in any way, shape, or form.
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