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My parent tried heat pumps twice. They are incapable of even handling the usually not-very-severe winters of central Texas without resorting to turning on thei
by dublin 4y ago
My parent tried heat pumps twice. They are incapable of even handling the usually not-very-severe winters of central Texas without resorting to turning on their pathetically weak resistance heaters, an those can cost nearly $100/day to run! Their second Gen system was much newer and more expensive, but not much better.
The definitely are not capable of handling any subfreezing temperatures. Natural gas is, overall, FAR more efficient for heating when the supposed efficiency of the heat pump gets slammed by the inefficiency of electric heat.
So that answers the OP's question of why we don't use them: They're fiddly, expensive to buy, and both don't work in, and are insanely expensive to operate in the cold.
- floxy 4y agoThat's not been my experience and I live north of 46 degrees latitude, with an average December temperatures much lower than, for example, Abilene, TX, with a total electric bill in the neighborhood of ~$250/month in December/January. The Coefficient of Performance for electrical resistance heat, and natural gas are both 1.0, (so you need the same number of joules to heat the air to the same temperature from either energy source). Maybe electric rates are really high in Texas in the winter? Or the gas rates are really low, and the house is huge?
- abstract_put 4y agoIs it possible your parent's house is not well insulated/sealed? Potentially _really_ uninsulated? I've talked to people here (45 degrees latitude) who are happily using their heat pumps and we're looking at models for ourselves. One caveat being the people I'm talking to live in above average performance homes (in terms of insulation and air sealing).