My parents have had a hybrid gas / heat pump for a couple years and like it. The heat exchanger is the A/C unit. The heat pump is more efficient more of the time. As the temps drop the amount of energy available drops. It reaches a point in the high 20's/ low 30's that the gas becomes more efficient, so you flick the switch on the thermostat and your off.
We haven't been able to determine the cost savings/ month because rates and fees have been all over the charts for the last couple years.
Something else to look into: geothermal. May or may not work for your application... and installation costs can apparently be high... but supposedly pretty efficient and there is a fairly sizable tax break being offered.
Osterkraut wrote: Why the hell would anyone want to own a humidifier? Or a house without A/C? Crazy kooks.
LOL. I have both...well, almost. We have a window unit that doesn't really cool 1800 sq ft as well as you might think. 
Oil heat dries your sinuses out something fierce, and the cats do get testy after getting shocked every time you go to pet them... 
...so a humidifier is good in the wintertime.
since someone mentioned cats:
I am training my cats to use the toilet.
Wally wrote:EastCoastMojo wrote: I think we go through 500 gallons of oil in an average winter, we have a 300 gallon tank and I know we can't make it through the whole winter on one tank. 500 gallons seems like a lot typing it out, so maybe it's not efficient at all, but it sure is warm.Thats not too bad. Last year we used 800 gallons to keep our wee shack a balmy 58 degrees (yes, I'm that cheap)
I keep mine @ 58 overnight. I live large and set it to 60 when we're conscious and home.
Forced hot air here. Heats up the house VERY fast. However, the heat doesn't linger like it does in baseboard units.
Our house was built in 1963, so basically it had no insulation when we bought it (the PO never added it). I've already done the attic, but getting cellulose blown into the walls is basically a must. The walls are frigid to the touch in the dead of winter. That's money flying out through the walls.
Cooling the house is SO much cheaper than heating it.
YaNi wrote: We haven't been able to determine the cost savings/ month because rates and fees have been all over the charts for the last couple years.
Your bills should have the number of kilowatt/hours and the number of cubic feet of gas used. Look up last year's bills and compare the volumes directly, rather than the costs.
Ian F wrote: Something else to look into: geothermal. May or may not work for your application... and installation costs can apparently be high... but supposedly pretty efficient and there is a fairly sizable tax break being offered.
Look up geo-exchange heat pump. Expensive, but much, much more efficient.
I've considered it, but since I added the garage, burying the line in a decent spot is next to impossible.
E-
Wally wrote:EastCoastMojo wrote: I think we go through 500 gallons of oil in an average winter, we have a 300 gallon tank and I know we can't make it through the whole winter on one tank. 500 gallons seems like a lot typing it out, so maybe it's not efficient at all, but it sure is warm.Thats not too bad. Last year we used 800 gallons to keep our wee shack a balmy 58 degrees (yes, I'm that cheap)
You haven't noticed my pipeline to Michigan yet have you! I haven't spent a penny since Walldo announced his purchase of Chateau du'Waisteline and I tapped into the keg out back of his house ;)
We have gas and while I don't "LOVE" it I do "like" being warm in the winter (62* Wally)
AnD do not forget that heat wastin tank in the corner... I am replacing my 40 gal gas fired hot water tank with a Bousch on demand system.
EastCoastMojo wrote:
That's time which could be better spent getting the 'Yota running. 
LOL. They don't need my supervision. It's actually coming along very well without much imput from me. 
EastCoastMojo wrote: LOL. They don't need my supervision. It's actually coming along very well without much imput from me.
The poopy training or the car?
The poop. Now if I could just train the cats to fix the car...
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