How well do central A/C's using natural gas for power cool,compared to one using electricity?

Jun

How well do central A/C's using natural gas for power cool,compared to one using electricity?

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I know nothing about these things, Ive' only heard they exist. I'm looking to have central heat and cooling installed into my home to cut down on the light bill, using all window units it gets up around the $600's. I'm guessing it's about a 1500 to 2000 sq.ft. home built back in the 60's or 70's all asbostos exterior!! to cut expences, I plan to install it my self. at least the carpentry work!

Yes they do exist.This design has been around for years.
I've been also doing Hvac/r for 10 years and would put one in my home.They are very safe and no matter what anyone tells you the ammonia is not transferred in the living space.It uses a medium to perform the heat exchange.Now this technology isn't cheep but either is running window a/c's.Another great feature is that no matter how hot or cold it gets this design keeps working.
Gas furnaces go bad and produce carbon monoxide and heat pumps don't work very well in cold weather.

http://www.robur.com/pag_prodotto.jsp?idp=17&idl=2&steps=0

Posted by: admin - 8 Comments

8 comments for “How well do central A/C's using natural gas for power cool,compared to one using electricity?”

Heinz M

Central air with heating, will use gas only for heating, not cooling.
There used to be gas operated refrigerators, but they were never that efficient, and forget about a freezer!
References :

June 18th, 2009 at 2:23 pm

devldogmt

To my knowledge there is no a/c made in this day and age that uses Gas. They all use 220. The furnace would be natural gas, although the cheapest thing to do would be to use an air handler w/ electric back up in it. I'm not sure where you live but from the sounds of what you have I'm assuming that heating is not a large concern. Spend the extra money you save on the cost of the furnace and upgrade the SEER rating of your a/c. Northern climates it does not pay to have higher SEER ratings, but the southern climates have much better payback.
References :

June 18th, 2009 at 2:57 pm

Mich

Every A/C that ive ever seen has used electricity to run. The indoor unit whitch is what they call the Forced Air Unit is what forces air through an A/C coil that is connected to the FAU. The FAU is what contains the heat exchanger(gas) or
Heat strips(Electric). A well insulated home, whith central air/heat is your best bet. Youre answer to your question, If you live in a climate that stays above 40F, A outdoor heat pump may be your best bet, Otherwise go with a high efficient or higher seer rating Indoor FAU and Outdoor A/C
References :

June 18th, 2009 at 3:34 pm

James M

Yes, they exist. The gas AC. There is a Company in St. Joe michigan that got a large grant from Dept of Energy to develope these things and they have run tests all over Ohio and Mich.

Problem is this, the gas AC requires an Electric Fan to cool the coils, an electric pump to pump the amonia in a loop inside a house. And yes, people are scared as dickens of amonia leak in this large of a unit needed.

So in the end, not much was saved and lots of electric used anyhow to circulate air pump fluids and so on. I think that St. Joe project went down the tubes but im not dead sure of that. You can check with Dept of Energy they have an 800#
References :

June 18th, 2009 at 3:56 pm

Thomas L

Yes they do exist.This design has been around for years.
I've been also doing Hvac/r for 10 years and would put one in my home.They are very safe and no matter what anyone tells you the ammonia is not transferred in the living space.It uses a medium to perform the heat exchange.Now this technology isn't cheep but either is running window a/c's.Another great feature is that no matter how hot or cold it gets this design keeps working.
Gas furnaces go bad and produce carbon monoxide and heat pumps don't work very well in cold weather.

http://www.robur.com/pag_prodotto.jsp?idp=17&idl=2&steps=0
References :
HVAC/R TECH

June 18th, 2009 at 4:32 pm

Steven W

It largely depends on useage, and possibly individual providers, but Natural Gas is commonly less expensive.

Steven Wolf
References :
40 plus years as a contractor

June 18th, 2009 at 5:17 pm

kier

as far as i know , i know a bit .
amonnia , is used only in comercial units ,
most homes today should be looking for a heat pump , whole house unit , or mini split type unitusing the new 410a refrigerent gas .
if you have natural gas in your area this can be a very cheap back up source , but so is any other biomass fuel . but so can electric , a large amount of the electrical energy we use is made by hydro dams and now wind mill farms .
what i would like you to consider is the cost of the system compaired to the savings you want .
if it takes 20 years for a payback then where is the savings.
also look at your home as a whole package . like a car you don’t buy just an engine .
how your house uses energy by percentage looks like this . 55% heating and cooling.
21% hot water heat domestic
23% appliences and lights.
100% based on electric .
if averaged for the year .
a some but inexpencive hot water heat pump can save you 14% of that 21% of the total .
and the best you should shoot for with the whole house system is a 25% savings of the 55% of the total.
the whole house system mite cost ??? well that depends on the size of the house and its efficency level . easily 10,000.00+
and the hot water heat pump about 1/5 of that installed in 1 day .
hope this helps .

June 18th, 2009 at 6:11 pm

kier

you can contact me at http://heatpumpproducts.com

June 18th, 2009 at 6:13 pm

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