Portable Ac with heat single hose for winter heating ?

[ecomodded]

Woke up to a house temp of 17.3 degrees with the vent at the top of the stairs @ 84 degrees. Not bad for -4 temperatures.



The AC consumed 6 extra kwh past 50% yesterday this moves its duty cycle to 83% power vs full power 100% of the time.


The unit at times has been running on reduced watts in this cold weather it was using 800 to 850w when I checked the power meter at 7 am. It normally runs on between 950 and 1050 watts until it nears and enters defrost mode where its watts drop to a low of 500w for a few minutes.

Its been doing quick defrosts as needed throughout the night and morning

To warm the house up quick this morning i turned on the baseboard heat in the living room for 60 minutes to bring the house temp up to 20c and turned it back off.

So I cheated but it only makes sense as Im trying to save energy and not be cold doing it.

had a technical issue uploading this pic



The temp was taken from the ACs outer vent area @ -4 outside temp with a room temp of 17c

[ecomodded]

It was a cold night again last night with a -5 temp at 10 pm



Its currently -2c at 8 am with a 17c inside / house temperature

I turned the living room baseboard heat on again at 8 am this morning and will leave it on for an hour again to raise the house temp back up to a comfortable 20c

Yesterday morning after heating the house up to 20c the AC maintained the temp at 18.8c for hours eventually it climbed up to 20.5c and held until about 9 pm when it lowered to 19.5c at 1:00 am the temp was 18.4c

7 hours later it was 17c at 8am

With the cold weather the AC has been making at least 1/2 as much defrost water , its been running constant


Tomorrows weather prediction is said to be wet and mild with the following day forecast set at -5


Its usually not until the end of December that we see the cold of temperatures. The rest of the week forecast predicts wet and mild weather , its going back to normal.

[ecomodded]

The cold snap has finished and the heater actually worked right threw it.

The kill-a-watt meter now reads 763 on hours with 431 Kwh consumed
It consumed 50 kwh over a 50% run time using its 1000w power draw.
Is sitting at a 66% run time with a average power draw of 640 watts

Those numbers will climb as winter continues the percentage will rise
until ( I estimate ) bottoming out at about at 80 or 85% run time due to its lower power draw moments it has when it frost up and enters defrost mode.

After finding the house too cool in the morning added in a ceramic heater set on 500w draw mode , that draws 600 watts set on a hour on hour off cycle for 12 hour on every 24hrs
It worked out perfect for keeping the house at 20c

A few charts I downloaded the data from B.C Hydro our electricity supplier website



Im the light blue bars the dark blue are neighbors , you can see the increase in power draw at the end of the chart

[ecomodded]

Its been smooth sailing since the last post with no issues whatsoever. I have not needed to adjust its thermostat the temp has been reliably steady at 20c with its current setting.

Having the ac downstairs is working out well the air circulates much like a proper duct system with the stairway acting as a large easy to flow through return duct.

A snap shot showing the temperature and heating trend for the last 30 days

[ecomodded]

Success

First a Tip , If you try this yourself , pick a portable ac with heater as its defrost is tweaked to deal with frequent ice ups quickly and efficiently. Defrost last about 5 minutes and happens about every hour before Defrost heat output starts to reduce slowly.

The defrost has been working well , I have been checking on the condenser during bad weather and its been clear every time after a defrost.

Dec 2015 average temp 5.4*c =1600 KWh = $175
Dec 2016 average temp 2.3*c = 1900 KWh = $220
Dec 2017 average temp 3.2* = 1165 KWh = $125




As it works out this Dec the heat pump reduced power consumption by 43% vs. 2016 and 27% less then Dec 2015 .

The heat pump fan and duct cost $420 - first month savings of $95 so about 1/4 of the way to pay back already

I am finding 12000 Btu's to about perfect for the house I have been using a 600w heater on colder days/ nights set on a hour on / off schedule to supplement the heating.

The ac has been running 24 hrs a day 24-7

It has consumed 1398 KWh over 2057 hrs. this equals a average draw of 690 watts

I am expected to save around $100 in January the way its going that will move me to about a 50% pay back in the first few months

At this rate it should be payed off this year.

[jeff5may]

Oh no, there's no way what you're talking about can save you money. It just has to be some confusion or placebo effect or sumthin...

NOT

Good for you, man! Your little project that shouldn't do what it does could very well pay for itself in only a single heating season! I'm sure your tweaking the performance early on are making a lot of difference. As long as it works for you, that's all that really matters.

[ecomodded]

It pulled it off in dual hose mode like a champ I have strong confidence in it now. This week has been warmer and have not been using the portable heater and still the house is 19.5* at 2:00 am.

Im astounded by its performance heating in -5* temperatures the gamble payed off ,, thanks to the dual hose mod

[wrangster]

Hi! I have tried using a portable heat pump to heat up a 46 foot boat this winter, but my experiance hasn't been as good as yours. Here it uses way too much air, even in 2-hose mode. I guess that has a lot to do with the amount of air being much smaller in a boat. Even in 2-hose mode it blows out the double of what it sucks in, so my floors are getting icecold. I even opened it and tried to force it to suck all air from outside, by stuffing rubber foam here and there. But that only made it blow much colder inside. I have given it up for now, but I have a dream of chopping it in two and make a micro-split.

[ecomodded]

Don't give up on it instead Mod it.

Single hose units work best for this Mod but its doable with a dual hose
The problem with dual hose units is they use 2 different CFM fans with the exhaust being larger as a result it draws air in from the cracks and cycles the indoor air with fresh. *I read* its done so the air stays fresh in the room ie: stale air out with some fresh air in to keep the house from breathing.
Personally i think the design is in place to cripple the portable market but read the design is there to ensure the houses will get adequate oxygen exchange.

First Mod I would do is add a 2nd intake port and add a six inch flex hose to the outside.
If that did not work I would make sure the exhaust vent system is sealed to the intake side so the airflow is in and out.
I imagine adding a 2nd 6 inch intake vent to the side of the unit would be enough of a mod to fix the issue.

[ecomodded]

Energy update

I switched from the equal payment plan ( yearly use split into a monthly bill ) to monthly billing as the yearly equal payments were more then this winters monthly electric bill. Was $120 a month x 12 now its less then $120 for the winter months only. Spring and summer bills are going to be light on the wallet. I will start to see the savings in the wallet in about 1 month


When I stopped the equal payment plan it switched me to the two month billing cycle. I pay half very month tp stay on top of it.



The kill a watt meter died about two weeks ago the last reading I have off it puts its energy consumption average at 735 watts with defrost cycles. etc. causing reduced consumption. Normally it runs on about 900- 950 watts.