compwizpro
New Member
If this is posted in the wrong spot, feel free to remove.
Hello, I am new here and recently had a 10.65kw grid-tied system installed without battery. After reviewing the first month and a half of production as well as having a lower monthly consumption compared to what I originally provided the installer, I am expecting to have a decent surplus of power during the late winter - spring to late summer - fall months (over 400kwh this month while still falling short of production estimate due to more weather). I currently use a natural gas furnace to heat my house which is decently insulated and am exploring options to offset the natural gas bill by partially heating (and possibly cooling) my house using either a space heater or portable AC with heat pump.
My question is, do other people have experience trying to supplement their heating with some type of electric heating if the have a large excess to offset their gas bill or is that not as common / better ways to take advantage of power?
Details:
I have a 95% efficient 100K but forced air furnace and a 13 SEER 4ton central AC, both recently replaced before I purchased the house so have plenty of life in them. I’m located northern midwest of the United States so winters do get cold.
My utility charges $0.166 per kwh with a sell back rate of $0.043 per kwh of the entire excess if have over the month billing period. My natural gas rate is $1.17 per therm.
I looked into getting a resistive space heater but it calculated out to be over 4 times the cost to heat with electricity vs. natural gas and I get a better by back rate from the utility than that.
I then investigated portable AC with heat pump as those seemed to have a minimum of 2 – 3 COP compared to resistive heat which would make it more efficient use of power than a space heater and I could use it to cool as well if I wanted a room cooler and but didn’t want to turn my AC down. Although they are more expensive, I figured I could run it 5 – 6 months out of the year given the minimum temperature and how long we usually have our heat on for. I found the following units to be the most efficient that could also heat as both have an EER of ~10:
Whynter ARC-14SH and Toshiba RAC-PT1412HVWRU
I know the better option would be to look at a mini split with a much higher efficiency and greater time range of use. It would be difficult to install it on the first or 2nd floor and although the basement is possible, it is naturally a lot colder and would be concerned a large portion of the heat generated would get dissipated back into the ground and not actually go to the rest of the house.
Given the information above, have others in a similar situation with excess production tried to offset their gas with a solution like this or has it been considered and deemed not worth it?
I have read a similar post on this forum regarding this topic but it didn’t seem to touch on the same points I mentioned above.
Thanks in advance!
Hello, I am new here and recently had a 10.65kw grid-tied system installed without battery. After reviewing the first month and a half of production as well as having a lower monthly consumption compared to what I originally provided the installer, I am expecting to have a decent surplus of power during the late winter - spring to late summer - fall months (over 400kwh this month while still falling short of production estimate due to more weather). I currently use a natural gas furnace to heat my house which is decently insulated and am exploring options to offset the natural gas bill by partially heating (and possibly cooling) my house using either a space heater or portable AC with heat pump.
My question is, do other people have experience trying to supplement their heating with some type of electric heating if the have a large excess to offset their gas bill or is that not as common / better ways to take advantage of power?
Details:
I have a 95% efficient 100K but forced air furnace and a 13 SEER 4ton central AC, both recently replaced before I purchased the house so have plenty of life in them. I’m located northern midwest of the United States so winters do get cold.
My utility charges $0.166 per kwh with a sell back rate of $0.043 per kwh of the entire excess if have over the month billing period. My natural gas rate is $1.17 per therm.
I looked into getting a resistive space heater but it calculated out to be over 4 times the cost to heat with electricity vs. natural gas and I get a better by back rate from the utility than that.
I then investigated portable AC with heat pump as those seemed to have a minimum of 2 – 3 COP compared to resistive heat which would make it more efficient use of power than a space heater and I could use it to cool as well if I wanted a room cooler and but didn’t want to turn my AC down. Although they are more expensive, I figured I could run it 5 – 6 months out of the year given the minimum temperature and how long we usually have our heat on for. I found the following units to be the most efficient that could also heat as both have an EER of ~10:
Whynter ARC-14SH and Toshiba RAC-PT1412HVWRU
I know the better option would be to look at a mini split with a much higher efficiency and greater time range of use. It would be difficult to install it on the first or 2nd floor and although the basement is possible, it is naturally a lot colder and would be concerned a large portion of the heat generated would get dissipated back into the ground and not actually go to the rest of the house.
Given the information above, have others in a similar situation with excess production tried to offset their gas with a solution like this or has it been considered and deemed not worth it?
I have read a similar post on this forum regarding this topic but it didn’t seem to touch on the same points I mentioned above.
Thanks in advance!
