Daikin 5 ton Heat Pump info?

[JerryR]

JerryR,

In Florida, when it is say 90 degrees and trying to keep the home at 76 degrees, that is only a 14 degree difference. Therefore, windows just doesn't play in the building requirements for energy efficiency but safely from hurricanes do.

While temperature differential may be only 14 degrees I just measured my daughters sliding glass doors with a heat gun. The doors are factory tinted relatively dark and the glass was 112 degrees. The heat radiating off them as horrible. You could stand a foot way and feel the horrible heat. In my home I have double pane, hurricane impact insulated low-E glass on all windows and glass doors. At my home we replaced the windows and glass doors last year. It made a Huge difference.We have 34 windows and 24 feet of 8 foot tall sliding glass doors. That is a lot of square footage of glass.

 

[WorthFlorida]

Hi Jerry,

Have you been able to keep track on kilowatts usage with FPL's smart meter on each upgrade? Is the window upgrade a double pane with a gas between or laminated glass with a tough film in between? My neighbor upgrade and they swear by the impact windows on especially the big reduction of noise or lack of noise from the outside.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[JerryR]

Can't really tell the energy savings because since April we've had the Pool Heater (5 ton heat pump) set to 89 degrees and our daily usage car is an Electric Nissan Leaf. But the house is 3,100 square feet on Air-conditioned space and we keep the AC on 24/7 since we are retired and are home mostly all day. Even with that our kW usage hasn't exceeded 2,100 kWh for hot summer months.


Look at the attached FPL energy tracking for the other day. You can see between 5am -6am spike where the car was charged and another spike between 9am-10am where the pool heater ran for a little over an hour. The highest bill we've had this summer was August with usage of 2,117 kWh/$203.58

All windows and doors are PGT Winguard Vinyl, http://www.pgtindustries.com/ impact resistant certified. Two pieces of glass and a center laminate for impact resistance.

House is much much quieter and house holds temperature much better. Much less radiant heat transfer from glass.

Single hung Windows are PGT Winguard. Windows are 7/8" i.e sandwich of 1/8" dual Glaszed, Argon filled LOW -E- 50.0 and +60 PSF
Picture Windows are 1" Sandwich of 2 panes. 3/16" Tempered and 7"16" AN glass with a 3/8" GAP filled with Argon -70.0 and +70 PSF
Sliding Glass doors are dual glazed with a 7"16" gas filled GAP. -60.0 and +60 PSF

Energy ratings vary slightly based on window or door size but basically they are:
U-Factor 0.29 - 0.35
Solar Heat Gain 0.25 - 0.23
Viable transmittance 0.42 - 0.53
Air Infiltration less than 0.3

 

[Dana]

A total side-track, but how are you liking the Leaf?

In New England many people are wary of them due to the severe hit in range they get in cold winter (sub 20F) and hilly territory, but there are still some die-hard fans. In FL hills & cold weather are non-existent, but does the absence of thermal management of the battery have noticable effects on the other end of the temperature scale?

 

[WorthFlorida]

That is quite of an achievement keeping the electric usage in check. My home in Lake Worth is about 2150 sq ft, two floors and a pool and two AC units. My usage for this past August, the hottest temps on record, was 1975 KW. I do not have a heat pump or heater for the pool and I run the pump about eight hours a day. I keep the second floor at 80 degrees since no one is up their and I'll lower it to 77 when I'm up their watching TV. Just my wife and I, no kids at home. The first floor I keep it at a steady 77 degrees. In the winter months I'll lower it to maybe 75 to keep the humidity in check.

I wish I had the impact windows for Hurricane Matthew that is two days away. Just today we put the house up for sale and we are in our Orlando home and we planned our annual visit to VT & NY for a little family gathering. Tomorrow morning we heading back to Lake Worth so I can install the storm panels. Also, to be there to clean up after the storm and repair if needed the screen pool enclosure that was built six years ago to the latest code. With impact windows and doors we be on our way to VT. Just hope no debris goes through the outside AC coil.

 

[Dana]

Good luck on having the storm steer more easterly path than presently projected! Looks like if you're in VT long enough, with even modestly more westerly track you get some of the back wash there too, looking at today's projection:

 

[WorthFlorida]

I rather go through ten 20" blizzards than one hurricane or for those in the Midwest, one tornado.

 

[JerryR]

A total side-track, but how are you liking the Leaf?

In New England many people are wary of them due to the severe hit in range they get in cold winter (sub 20F) and hilly territory, but there are still some die-hard fans. In FL hills & cold weather are non-existent, but does the absence of thermal management of the battery have noticable effects on the other end of the temperature scale?

Dana,

Sorry for delayed response. I didn't see this until today.

We love the 2015 leaf. It's amazing. It's our daily driver for any trips less than 80 miles round trip which accounts for probobly 95% of our needs. Supermarket runs, doctor visits, pick up/drop off grandson at school etc. the newer 2016's have 25% more battery capacity and range.

We bought the highest end Leaf last year. MSRP was $38,500. Dealer discount was $6,000. Nissan Finance offered $5,000 discount. We were eligible for full $7,500 tax credit so net cost was $20k plus tax.

Battery degradation is expected. We don't have issue with cold weather range in Florida. The leaf doesn't have battery cooling like other makes so heat can cause accelerated battery degradation. I've measured 4% loss of battery SOH after 1 year in Florida. At that rate we will be down 20% after 5 years.

I'm 6 foot, 240 lbs and I'm very comfortable getting in/out and have loads of headroom.

The AC is a heat pump for efficient heating.

 

[Dana]

Thanks for the feedback on the Leaf- it's about what I would have expected for the climate & terrain. My understanding is that next year's Leaf will have at least some improved thermal management for cold climates, but I haven't read any details. Sounds like you got quite the deal on it, stacking dealer & finance credits with tax incentives!