Replace Old AC with Heat Pump

gieriscm

My townhouse currently has central AC and baseboard electric heat. The AC unit is ancient - 30+ years - and will need to be replaced this year.

My husband and I would like to get rid of the baseboard electric heaters for many reasons. They're also old, inefficient, take up wall space, and no matter how well I clean them before turning them on for the winter, they smell like burning dust and hair - at least initially.

My only concern is that the registers are all located in the ceilings, where normally they're placed low on the walls. Will the hot air stay trapped up near the ceilings? I don't want to end up with cold feet... though my hubby says it's a little late for that! :D

Mike Swearingen

Depending upon where you live, a modern, high efficiency heatpump should work fine. Just make sure that your HVAC bidders all perform a professional load calculation to size it properly for your townhouse.
You can keep the old baseboard units for room-by-room heat backup if you like, or just remove them.
If you install reversible ceiling fans, it will make your heating and cooling system much more efficient and comfortable.
Good Luck!
Mike

rabadger

Where do you live? In southern climates ceiling registers are fairly common because there are more cooling days. In the Northern climates ceiling supplies are not used. When appling a heat pump the duct design is very important. The air must be distributed correctly because the discharge air temperature is lower and the correct CFM delivered into each room is critical. If you are not accustomed to it you will have complaints of a drafty fealing due to the lower discharge temperatures.

The first step you have to take is to determine if the duct work is sutiable and what size heat pump should be used. This is done by performing room by room load calculations.

Next if you live in a colder climate determine if a gas fired warm air furnace can be installed. In the colder climates it is common to shut down the heat pump at about 35 degrees and fire the furnace. This is called dual fuel. There is a thermostat in the outdoor section of the heat pump that does this.

I hope this has helped you and not confused you.