Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine May 2023

HVACR NewsMagazine March2023

Tech News

program was visibly promoted up until 1983 with a 3” medallion placed adjacent to the front door or imbedded in concrete on the porch. The program was credited as a success since energy costs were low and generation plentiful with hydroelectric, coal, fuel oil and gas available.

that money would be saved if the consumer would take the plunge. Unfortunately, the plunge was

indoor temperatures when heat pumps were installed. Heat pumps could not keep up with high leakage rates (ACH) and low insulation levels on existing homes of that era. The heat pump market suffered a huge set back after consumers experienced bad installs of this era when fuel switching was encouraged. Many consumers wanted nothing to do with heat pumps for decades. It is true, today’s heat pumps do a much better job than they did in the early 1990’s. Multiple mechanical relays, crude defrost technology, and sticking reversing valves kept reliability parked at the low end of the scale. Todays improved controls, reliability and better performance do a much better job handling the technology. However, even the best performing equipment will get poor rating for comfort and reliability if installed with inefficient filtering, bad duct, or poor air delivery techniques or if accurate load calculations are ignored. Measuring insulation is not too tough, but how do we know a home is a fit for a heat pump if we don’t know what leakage rates are? Most energy raters today will tell you they run across very leaky homes, often built within the last decade. When we read Manual J load calculations and attempt to find equipment for the job, we also find today’s heat pump equipment delivers far less capacity in heating mode than in cooling. Never take for granted a 3-ton heat pump is comparable to a 3-ton gas furnace. Remember we can match a 3-ton

In the 1970’s during the Arab Oil Crisis, energy prices spiked, alternative sources for heating flourished and gadgets of all types were marketed to reduce power consumption on

standard systems. From a fine mist of water sprayed on the outdoor condenser to screens on the condenser to shade from radiant heat, products kept showing up to lower energy costs. That same spray of water fouled condenser coils and screens cause condensers to overheat and compressors to fail, ultimately costing consumers millions of dollars and making warry customers of everyone. This also marked an entry point for Arlka Servel (no compressor air conditioning) to make several positive moves when energy markets were diversified. In 1976, the “Good Cents” p rogram was initiated to promote all electric homes once again, complete with a plaque adjacent to the front door. The program still exists in College Station Texas (creation location) to date, along with “Super Good Cents” programs across the country. The move was again, to single source power to homes, while leaving markets open for generation fuels. Moving to the early 1990’s, it’s now been over 40 years ago that heat pumps were pushed to the front of the line for the consumer, once again for electrification. Promises were made