Dual Fuel Systems
Dual Fuel Systems describes any heating or cooling system that utilizes more than one fuel source. Most commonly, you’ll see a heat pump coupled with a fossil fuel burning appliance. We think outside the box and offer many types of dual fuel systems. We will couple solar with gas and wood with solar. We will use heat pumps with radiant systems and many other combinations, depending on your needs.
Often times, there is a mixture of systems within a home and that’s where Abacus can really help. Combinations of systems require special care with piping and control strategies to ensure comfort and high efficiency operation.
Many times, you’ll see multiple fuel burning appliances serving devices that could all be served by one appliance. If you have a gas furnace and conventional water heater, you still have the potential to retrofit a truly high efficiency solar thermal system into your home. If it is a whole system replacement, we have options to replace the gas furnace with a hydronic coil/variable drive air handler that is served by a water-heating source that also does your domestic hot water. If it is an existing high efficiency system, we can add a hydronic booster coil to supplement gas heating. These are ways to incorporate one water-heating source whether it’s a tank less water heater, a boiler or a solar thermal supplement system. By eliminating multiple fuel-burning appliances and serving all your equipment with one fuel burning appliance will greatly decrease fuel consumption.
