Hello all,
I'm thinking of replacing my 20 year old home A/C and gas furnace with a single A/C-Heat Pump unit.
In theory, the heat pump is supposed to be a lot more efficient than the gas furnace. The problem is the high humidity in Houston.
As an experiment, I converted a small, high efficiency 5,000BTU window A/C into a heat pump and tried it for the last few week. It is really very efficient until the evaporator freezes up. Air flow (and thus heat exchange) simply stops on the outside's side. When the outside temperature is below 50F, it takes only 20 minutes for frost/ice to form when humidity is 80 or above. When that happens, I had to turn off the compressor, but kept the fan running to de-ice. It takes about 20 mins to clear the ice. In short, to generate heat, this experimental heat pump works half the time and RESTS (de-ice) half the time.
Question: If you live in a humid area and you have installed a heat pump, please share your experience.
Thanks,
Sam
I'm thinking of replacing my 20 year old home A/C and gas furnace with a single A/C-Heat Pump unit.
In theory, the heat pump is supposed to be a lot more efficient than the gas furnace. The problem is the high humidity in Houston.
As an experiment, I converted a small, high efficiency 5,000BTU window A/C into a heat pump and tried it for the last few week. It is really very efficient until the evaporator freezes up. Air flow (and thus heat exchange) simply stops on the outside's side. When the outside temperature is below 50F, it takes only 20 minutes for frost/ice to form when humidity is 80 or above. When that happens, I had to turn off the compressor, but kept the fan running to de-ice. It takes about 20 mins to clear the ice. In short, to generate heat, this experimental heat pump works half the time and RESTS (de-ice) half the time.
Question: If you live in a humid area and you have installed a heat pump, please share your experience.
Thanks,
Sam