Heatpump vs OWB

[Marley5]

The wife and I went on a trip so I shut down the boiler earlier than usual.

My electric bill went up $127 compared to the winter months running the OWB.
I like burning wood but that's more saving than I thought.

 

[NSMaple1]

How long was your trip?

We put 2 mini splits in, in November. Curious what the extra electricity $ vs. wood saved is going to be, when winter is over. I think I've made a fire on like twice the last couple weeks. First 2 power bills since (2 month billing cycle) have been about $30/mo more than typical. I am liking them very much.

 

[Wayned24]

Last winter when my OWB was down, my electric bills were $500+ This winter, I didn't have one above $150.

 

[Marley5]

How long was your trip?

We put 2 mini splits in, in November. Curious what the extra electricity $ vs. wood saved is going to be, when winter is over. I think I've made a fire on like twice the last couple weeks. First 2 power bills since (2 month billing cycle) have been about $30/mo more than typical. I am liking them very much.

Trip was 8 days......should have fired the boiler back up but already did a thorough cleaning and didn't think the beginning of March was gonna be so cold.

 

[jimdeere]

My four ton Trane heat pump is 26 years old. We only used it for heat the first winter. Electric bill was sky high.
Just today we had the HVACguy come to price a new unit. He couldn’t believe the unit was that old. Then he saw my OWB. He said the old unit probably would have crapped out years ago if used for the only source of heat.
The are several factors to figure in on cost savings.
Edit:
I nearly wrecked the outside compressor unit the first year we had a stove. Had a good fire going and the heat pump turned down. Then it snowed during the night. The fire went out and the heat pump kicked on. Snow had melted and re-froze on the fan. Being out of balance, it vibrated and broke the mounting bolts and just barely missed wrecking the coils.

 

[NSMaple1]

All heat pumps are not created equal either.

 

[Mustang71]

All heat pumps are not created equal either.

Nope. Your mini split ones are going to be way more efficent than a central air style. Same with air conditioning too.

 

[rancher2]

Its been about eight years since I installed the first mini split. So far that one has had zero issues. I installed it in a old two story house that had no heat or AC on the second floor and they didn't want to tear out walls to put duct work in and the attic space wasn't good for furnace and AC unit. They are designed to run down to lower temps out side and still produce good heat. They are way cheaper to run than the old style central heat pumps which a lot of them aren't happy running in cold outside temps. Most of the ones I have installed have been in house add on's and upper story's of old houses with no ducts, areas we used to install PTAC's in. The mini splits are so quiet.

 

[Mustang71]

We put in Mitsubishi and their hyper heat will heat down below 0*. I have tested that too and they make fantastic heat. They aren't cheap but that's the majority of what we put in. I have never installed a central air heat pump in this area.