Using the AC to provide more direct targeted heating, possibly lowering my expenditure

mickyduck55

See my sig for system plus I'm on "Go"

My Central heating is via gas and radiators and I am seeing my gas expenditure far outstripping  my eclectic expenditure. (Hummm should have said electric but maybe I was right the first time LOL)

I have the heating turned off in my bedroom as I sleep with the windows open all year round.  The heating is also off in the other bedrooms as I live alone. so I am heating my Hallway, Kitchen, living room and Bathroom.  I spend most of my time in the living room where I had an AC fitted earlier this year to use my spare solar to cool it.  Hardly required this year as the summer was poor !

My plan is turn the heating thermostat which is in my hallway down to 14 C for the gas which will supply some background heating in the rooms mentioned and use the AC to bring my living room temperature up to a comfortable level of 18 C.  My bathroom will be at a reasonable temperature as well as the hall way takes much longer to heat up than the bathroom so hallway at 14 bathroom probably 18-20 C (a guess)

The AC gives instant heat and is much more controllable than the Gas... lets see how it goes 

QrizB

Sounds a reasonable plan. Do let us know how it works out!

JKenH

mickyduck55 said:

See my sig for system plus I'm on "Go"

My Central heating is via gas and radiators and I am seeing my gas expenditure far outstripping  my eclectic expenditure. (Hummm should have said electric but maybe I was right the first time LOL)

I have the heating turned off in my bedroom as I sleep with the windows open all year round.  The heating is also off in the other bedrooms as I live alone. so I am heating my Hallway, Kitchen, living room and Bathroom.  I spend most of my time in the living room where I had an AC fitted earlier this year to use my spare solar to cool it.  Hardly required this year as the summer was poor !

My plan is turn the heating thermostat which is in my hallway down to 14 C for the gas which will supply some background heating in the rooms mentioned and use the AC to bring my living room temperature up to a comfortable level of 18 C.  My bathroom will be at a reasonable temperature as well as the hall way takes much longer to heat up than the bathroom so hallway at 14 bathroom probably 18-20 C (a guess)

The AC gives instant heat and is much more controllable than the Gas... lets see how it goes 

It is obvious you aren’t married.😀

Solarchaser

JKenH said:

mickyduck55 said:

See my sig for system plus I'm on "Go"

My Central heating is via gas and radiators and I am seeing my gas expenditure far outstripping  my eclectic expenditure. (Hummm should have said electric but maybe I was right the first time LOL)

I have the heating turned off in my bedroom as I sleep with the windows open all year round.  The heating is also off in the other bedrooms as I live alone. so I am heating my Hallway, Kitchen, living room and Bathroom.  I spend most of my time in the living room where I had an AC fitted earlier this year to use my spare solar to cool it.  Hardly required this year as the summer was poor !

My plan is turn the heating thermostat which is in my hallway down to 14 C for the gas which will supply some background heating in the rooms mentioned and use the AC to bring my living room temperature up to a comfortable level of 18 C.  My bathroom will be at a reasonable temperature as well as the hall way takes much longer to heat up than the bathroom so hallway at 14 bathroom probably 18-20 C (a guess)

The AC gives instant heat and is much more controllable than the Gas... lets see how it goes 

It is obvious you aren’t married.😀

😂😂😂
I thought exactly the same

mickyduck55

Solarchaser said:

JKenH said:

mickyduck55 said:

See my sig for system plus I'm on "Go"

My Central heating is via gas and radiators and I am seeing my gas expenditure far outstripping  my eclectic expenditure. (Hummm should have said electric but maybe I was right the first time LOL)

I have the heating turned off in my bedroom as I sleep with the windows open all year round.  The heating is also off in the other bedrooms as I live alone. so I am heating my Hallway, Kitchen, living room and Bathroom.  I spend most of my time in the living room where I had an AC fitted earlier this year to use my spare solar to cool it.  Hardly required this year as the summer was poor !

My plan is turn the heating thermostat which is in my hallway down to 14 C for the gas which will supply some background heating in the rooms mentioned and use the AC to bring my living room temperature up to a comfortable level of 18 C.  My bathroom will be at a reasonable temperature as well as the hall way takes much longer to heat up than the bathroom so hallway at 14 bathroom probably 18-20 C (a guess)

The AC gives instant heat and is much more controllable than the Gas... lets see how it goes 

It is obvious you aren’t married.😀

😂😂😂
I thought exactly the same

Good guess LOL

mnbvcxz

Purely on the theory you might do better to briefly blast the room with gas up to the desired temperature and then use the ac to then take over to maintain the temperature. It would depend partly on how much gas requires you to heat the whole house as well to just heat that room. But they do say ac's work more efficiently maintaining a temperature and less efficiently heating up from cold...  Probably depends partly on how smart a modle your ac is and how much designed for heating. Some of the generic appliance direct junkier ones pretty much say give up in cold weather...  

Anyway just a thought. Good luck and keep us posted, many of us are curious about real world cold weather COP experiences...

mickyduck55

mnbvcxz said:

Purely on the theory you might do better to briefly blast the room with gas up to the desired temperature and then use the ac to then take over to maintain the temperature. It would depend partly on how much gas requires you to heat the whole house as well to just heat that room. But they do say ac's work more efficiently maintaining a temperature and less efficiently heating up from cold...  Probably depends partly on how smart a modle your ac is and how much designed for heating. Some of the generic appliance direct junkier ones pretty much say give up in cold weather...  

Anyway just a thought. Good luck and keep us posted, many of us are curious about real world cold weather COP experiences...

The living room is heated with gas via radiators but I have lowered the thermostat so I am topping up the heat using the AC.  The practical issue is that with the thermostat being in my hallway to get the living area to temp I have to overheat the hall.
Yesterday I spent about £1 less on gas and nothing extra on my electric.  It was quite sunny for December so generated 4 kWh of solar which kept the batteries topped up, It wont always be so clear cut as weather and many other factors dependant.  I will run it for a week then check my historical smart meter data.  It was more comfortable in the living room as the AC provides almost instant heat.. I set it at 17 C yesterday and it was good.  The reason its is set so low is that it does seem to heat to above the threshold set and starts again when below 17 C.  I have quite a large room about 6m X 6m with a 4m patio door covered by thermal curtains in the evening.
The AC unit is LG dual inverter split system with one in the bedroom.. again specifically installed for cooling in the summer when I have spare solar.

2nd_time_buyer

Interesting stuff. Thanks

I was considering getting a similar split output AC system. If you don't mind saying, roughly how much was the install cost.

Just weighing up whether I can justify it over one or two portable units.

mickyduck55

2nd_time_buyer said:

Interesting stuff. Thanks

I was considering getting a similar split output AC system. If you don't mind saying, roughly how much was the install cost.

Just weighing up whether I can justify it over one or two portable units.

I doubt it will be comparable to portable units but its neat and unobtrusive.... I have sent you a PM

jimjames

Will it actually work though at this time of year? Does the AC heating take more electricity than is being generated on most days over the winter? Our system is 3kWp so slightly lower than yours and while there might be some peaks in the day when it would reach a level that could power AC (2kw? unit) the times when it could so are fairly small compared to the hours in a day especially when daylight/generation ends by 3.30pm.

QrizB

jimjames said:

Will it actually work though at this time of year?

There are other threads where MSErs (Martyn for one) have stated that it works in the "shoulder months" of spring and autumn. The AAHP will run at a few hundred watts input, producing 4x that as output heat.

I don't think Mickyduck55 is expecting his solar to supply the power, but to buy electricity for this. The saving he's looking to make comes from heating the rest of the house less and so buying less gas, combined with the decent COP that AAHPs offer.