The duty cycle is just an estimate of how many hours per day the unit runs. Then you will need a clamp on ammeter (perhaps you can borrow one from somebody?). I am assuming the heat pump is 240 volts. When the unit is running, using the clamp on, get a measurement of what each leg is drawing current wise. Mind you, this is the running current, not the start current, which will be considerably higher. I would suspect somewhere in the 8-10 amp range per leg. To derive watts, measure your ac voltage, then it is volts x amps. Example: 123 volts x 8.2 amps = 1008.6 watts. Since it is 240, get the watts for both legs then add them together. For simplicity, lets say 2,000 watts. Then it is a matter of how many hours the unit runs. It likely runs more when it is colder, so you might have to develop some type of curve on a graph.

Another example, when it is 30 degrees outside (daily mean temperature) the unit runs for 5 hours. When it is 40 degrees outside, the unit runs for 3.25 hours. Therefore at 30 degrees, it uses 2,000watts x 5hours = 10 kWh per day. At 40 degrees, it uses 2,000watts x 3.5hours = 7 kWh per day. You may need to get 4-5 data points to get a good idea of use. A heat pump works harder when it is colder because there is less energy in the air to extract. The other thing to be cognizant of it an aux heating coil. This is a straight resistance heater that gets turned on when the heat pump cannot generate enough heat using the refrigeration cycle.

I think you are going to find you are using a lot of electricity to heat your house.

The big cost in a geothermal system is the geo part of it. Often two wells are needed, which can get expensive if they are deep. Good luck, let me know if you need more information

As I have commented in other places on your blog, we are looking into geothermal heating and air as well as an augmentation to our water heater which supposedly will supply almost 75% of our hot water needs. (This remains to be seen with diva daughter and marathon showers).

What I would like to know is how to figure out how much we are using for the current heat pump and hot water heater. I could look at the overall usage from the power bill but I would like to see the targeted savings if we install this new system.

What method(s) could you suggest to get this information?

Thank you,
Fred

Kinda off topic, do you know how to get a mother-in-law to go INTO standby mode? The energy I use to keep from saying something stupid has got to be a lot.

Wait until you see the regular appliance use, that one is going to be very interesting when it is done

I guess that like Joe I will be turning off my laptop chargers at the switch from now on, I had no idea how much power they used when not even charging …

Thanks, and now I have to go unplug my 2 Dell laptop chargers.