It’s January 1st and the temperature outside this morning is a balmy 15° F. I don’t have natural gas service and I recently called my oil company and canceled my contract. So how is my family being kept warm this winter? Over the summer I converted my home heating to an electric all climate heat pump. Curious? Read on for more…

When we moved into our home in 2006, it was equipped with an oil-fired boiler and baseboards. Two seasons of unstable (high) oil prices were the catalyst for rethinking my home heating strategy. Like so many others in this “post-inconvenient truth” day and age, I also wanted to do what’s best for the environment as well as decrease my dependence on foreign oil.

Fortunately, I wasn’t alone in my quest. My friend Chris was also looking to replace his heating system and had recommended a system called the Hallowell Acadia which he was reading up on. At this time I had no idea what a heat pump was, or why I would want one. Sifting through their website and seeing so many positives left me with one major question: “If this technology is so amazing, why isn’t everyone using it?” And so began our research project for the summer, which culminated in the final delivery and installation of our new Acadia ACHP (All Climate Heat Pump).

The solution I ended up with satisfied all of the concerns outlined above. The question as to “why isn’t everyone using it” is a bit more complicated. This excellent article at Architectural Record tells the story of David Shaw. Shaw was an enterprising engineer who came up with the concept of the Low Temperature Heat Pump and patented his Opti-Cycle technology. His subsequent fallout with the major HVAC players in the industry pushed him to join forces with then-startup Hallowell International where he currently holds the position of CTO.

Phone calls to Hallowell were frequent, as we checked on everything from potential tax incentives (none for 2008), federal rebates (none, again), energy ratings, installation options and more importantly, local installers. It was apparent early on that there were very few experienced Acadia installers nationally, much less based on Long Island. The closest referred installer was based in North Jersey, and that didn’t sit well with me.

So, I’ve reached a point where I was sold on the technology, but couldn’t get anyone to install and maintain it for me. I called every local HVAC contractor I could find only to be told they are exclusive to one manufacturer or another and refused to speak to me. Eventually I did find someone to do the work and they did an excellent job. Please contact me for more information on the contractors involved and the work they did. Hallowell has told me I’m one of the first installations on Long Island and that’s something I’m proud of.

The technology works as promised. It uses electricity to create heat from cold air. It generates enough heat to keep my 1800 Sq. Ft. split-level house warm, even while the outdoor air temperature is 15° or lower. But my move away from oil and towards electricity as my sole source of heat was met with many raised eyebrows. Some of the common remarks from friends, family and coworkers were as follows:

You heat your home with electricity? That’s going to cost a fortune!

Yes, my electric bills went up, but what’s more important is how that increase compares to my lack of an oil bill. I spent $2100 on oil last season. Now, granted prices were higher, but that’s still a lot of money. So far, my electricity usage has not increased anywhere near that price point. My wife also tends to keep the house at a “tolerable chilliness” to keep costs down throughout the day. It should also be mentioned that most power companies offer a balanced billing program so the costs are deferred and averaged over a 12 month period and adjusted yearly. I don’t yet have enough data to predict the entire winter, but based on the past 2 months, my KWH/day has only increased by an average of 13 from last Novembers bill. Additionally, homeowners that convert to an electric based heating system are entitled to a discounted electric rate during the winter. I was just recently approved for rate 581 so essentially, when my power usage goes up, my rates go down. For more info on residential power rates for Long Island, review this PDF.

Switching to electricity does not help the environment, if you don’t burn fossil fuels, the power plants will anyway.

Is electricity better for the environment than burning fuel? It is, but the answer is not very straight forward. LIPA is doing everything they can to increase the efficiency of coal fired power plants and are exploring many alternative renewable fuel sources such as wind and solar. By removing my oil boiler, I’ve effectively put the responsibility on them to make sure the power I use is clean and renewable. Plus, I’ve set myself up on an easier path for when I install my own solar panels.
To see how clean your energy is, you can try this calculator at EPA.gov.

Overall, I’m very happy with the system but there are a couple of caveats you should be aware of. This technology is hot air based and cannot, at this time, be used for hot water type heating systems (baseboards, radiators). Having central air and the ductwork in my house already made the costs tolerable. But be warned of the upfront costs if you need to run ducts through your house. That being said, forced hot air heat is DRY. For now, we’re running humidifiers in the bedrooms to compensate, but I may install a whole house humidifier shortly. I also have a somewhat uneven heat with a significant differential in temperature from floor to floor. I will be attempting to remedy this with dampers and boosters if possible, but this is more a result of ceiling registers instead of the traditional floor or wall heat registers.

The Acadia unit on install day with service panel off.

Last but not least, if this article intrigued you to learn more about how you heat your home, the best web site I’ve found is actually from the US Dept. of Energy. Check it out here. If you have any questions on my specific installation, the installers or want to learn more, please email me.