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Counter anecdote. I just bought a house in the mid atlantic and 0 of the houses I looked at have a heat pump. > The other is that if you have central air then
by bbatha 4y ago
Counter anecdote. I just bought a house in the mid atlantic and 0 of the houses I looked at have a heat pump.
> The other is that if you have central air then it seems like you should have a heat pump. You're basically just running the heat pump backwards to provide heat instead of air conditioning,
These days sure. But the cold weather compatible heat pumps are relatively new, electricity was and still is a whole lot more expensive than gas, running it as both an air conditioner decreases its overall life span, and finally a dedicated air conditioner can be more energy efficient especially on older models.
- jandrese 4y agoWhen I was a kid in the 80s my house had an electric heat pump and the aux (resistive) heater coil didn't kick on until about 0F (-18C). You could tell because it smelled a bit when it happened, which was pretty rare. I guess it probably kicked in some more times overnight and I didn't notice, but overall the heat pump did the lion's share of the work. Heat pumps have become much more efficient since then. I replaced an old and rusty unit on my first townhouse and cut the electric bill by $100-$200/month in the middle of summer and dead of winter.