Global warming charges on the NStar bill?
 

I may have to get some newer units. We are getting way too many below 10f nights.
Lately, it's been in the teens at times, but blowing snow loaded up the outdoor HX units too much.
http://pauland.net/tempweekcomp.png

The units are half buried in snow now, but when the temperature came up
today, we started getting heat..

Luckily the price of oil has dropped. Because power cost is up..
It's 22.24 cents per kWh now. This month is the first time we've ever
been billed over $300 for Electricity.
Electric Bill Shocker: How to Keep Yours Down - Real estate news - Boston.com

I'm not sure, but I think my wife has been more interested in solar these days.

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...t-p1020834-jpg

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...t-p1020833-jpg

22 cents a kwh is good reason to go all solar , the payback time will be pretty fast with those rates.
Its about double what the rates are around here.

i am thinking if the mini split was mounted side ways you would get more heat out of it.
The way it is the cold exhaust air could be recycling back threw it , like a whirlwind of sorts.

I tend to look at things for ways of maximizing efficiency , hope my observations don't piss you off.
lol

I wanted to get solar PV on the roofs years ago.
But didn't want to fight with my wife about it.

The whirlwind idea won't fly. When it's cold outdoors, the air blowing out of the unit is super cold!
That's cold air that I want to get rid of real fast!

One of my ideas was to pull attic air down to the air intake.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...lot/hotair.jpg

That way, I could get solar heated air during the day, and re-cycle
slightly warm attic air.. (It's a little warmer than outdoors,
because of leaks in the ceiling insulation).

What I've learned during the last few Global Warming winters, is blowing
snow can shut down the heat, by causing defrost cycles repeatedly.

I'm now wondering how I can get snow-free air into the intakes. :confused:
Thinking of baffle walls, or large ducts to bring clean air from under the deck area.

Or, just build a much larger snow roof. So that snow will have to blow
in about 6 feet before getting to the intake. Give it time to settle to the ground.

I see how its working now , it draws air from the back and blows it out the front which makes good sense and your right the cold air will be gone once its evacuated by the fan. I thought it was drawing air from the front side.

Your vent may work but it might cool your attic enough to cancel any savings , conjecture on my part.

Although if it was drawing the air off the roof itself it could work as a solar pre heater , asphalt shingles heat up pretty fast , when the weather is permitting.

global warming winter indeed , your city has been put on hold by the sounds of it. Not that I put much credence in the global warming alarmists.

For me its been a incredible warm winter , We had 2 weeks of freezing weather in December then it warmed up with no cold weather for the rest of December and all of January and February is looking good.

Mind you its been overcast which is why I think its been so warm this winter. My heating bill is going to be the lowest in 10 years ,since I lived in this house and likely all other previous houses.

You'll have trouble defrosting like that. My Fuji is up 2ft from the ground and it defrosts, freezes just before the port at the bottom, and fills up with ice 2" above the bottom of the coil. I don't know why they don't have bigger holes.

Sounds like it's time to warm up your hacking tools..
Those that can make holes.. :)

haha, so true

Problem is...I can't do that when I put one on for someone else, voids the warranty.

I think the heat loss from inside the house is kinda 1-way, going up.

So, if that attic air (heat energy) was pulled into the input of an ASHP,
it's going to be re-extracted from the air and recycled..

Example: Heat escapes upstairs (stairwell) in a two story home.
If it's pumped back down stairs, where people are sitting around, it gets used twice..


Here's a slide show of my snow accumulation during a very cold day,
when the Sanyos weren't turned on.. (too cold).

It starts with a few flakes sticking in a clump, and as each flake hits and sticks,
the clumps get larger and larger..


http://youtu.be/F3dGciqRRCM

Oh Yeah! Another exciting xringer video!! Can't wait . . .

Wait, hmm, hmmmmmmmmmm.

Oh. He got me with the "frost cam" once before. Crap. He got me again.

Fool me twice . . .

:)
Pat

Let me be clear,
 

If you like your exciting videos, you can keep your exciting videos...

Humm, I should run for office.. :)


Guess what we saw this morning... It's stopped snowing!!
Now we have to start digging out the Sanyos.. If we can find them..
Another storm is on the way... :(

Jeepers, the temperature just soared up to 22F !! :D