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Generally, they can work anywhere in the continental US. (Assuming you live in the US.) If you're in northern NH, NY, VT, or Maine, you might want to keep your
by gwbas1c 4y ago
Generally, they can work anywhere in the continental US. (Assuming you live in the US.) If you're in northern NH, NY, VT, or Maine, you might want to keep your gas system as a backup. (New homes tend to have electric backup, but if you have an older home they just keep your furnace as backup.)
I have a 3000 sqft house in MA with a heat pump as my primary heat, and an electric strip as backup. The heat pump goes into the ductwork for most of the house. I generally haven't had problems. (It did have to be adjusted because it was the first time the installer put one in.) I have solar and usually get 1-2 large bills in January and February, and then March and April are very cheap, if I get a bill at all. My "large" January and February are comparable to what I'd spend on conventional heat.
Last weekend we had a "once in a century" cold snap down to -4. Most of the house was at temp, but one room fell to the high 50s. From what I've heard, plenty of people with conventional heat had far worse issues than a chilly room.
- kodt 4y agoNorth Dakota and Minnesota are on average colder than the states you listed. I would also include Montana, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Idaho as states where you should be concerned about performance in sub zero temperatures and have a backup heat source.
- robotpony 4y agoAround Vancouver our heat pump has performed adequately even down to -15C/5F. This may be related to it being a deep ground loop geothermal setup (vertical instead of horizontal), and the type of building (concrete). We do have a gas fireplace as backup, but have not needed it at the temperatures we see in this corner of the world.
- gwbas1c 4y agoI'm air based. When I built my house, I called around and it didn't sound like geothermal works very well where I live. I suspect the reason why I was talked out of it is because my yard is very rocky.
- timbit42 4y agoIt is definitely related to it being a deep ground loop geothermal setup. An air-to-air heat pump is trying to get heat out of air that has less heat as it gets colder. A ground loop heat pump is trying to get heat out of water that is not affected by the temperature of the outside air. With an air-to-air heat pump, you need a backup system for when it gets too cold out for the heat pump to pull enough heat out of the air, and for power outages. With a ground loop heat pump, you only need a backup system for when the power goes out because the ground water will never be too cold for the heat pump to pull heat out of.