Tricks to sizing a heat pump - Contractor Talk - Professional Construction and Remodeling Forum

Danno6102 · 06-28-2007, 11:20 AM

I am looking at buying a heat pump & having a friend finish the install in my personal home that I havebeen gutting & remodeling between jobs. I've done the manual J & D calcs. Says I have a heat gain of 25,911 (2 ton) btuh & heat loss of 46,154 btuh. What size heat pump would be needed to meet these values? Also, what size electric element would I need in the air handler?

Thanks!
Dan

mdshunk · 06-28-2007, 05:05 PM

Size for the cooling load only, and add enough electric heat to do the heating side if need be. In your case, that's 13kw, so you'd probably go with a 15kw heat kit.

Resist the urge to upsize the heat pump itself for the heating load, because it will be way oversized in the summer, according to your calcs. The temperature setpoint will be reached way before any dehumidification has been done, and the place will feel like a cold, clammy, damp basement.