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Electric is extremely practical - I know a lot of New Englanders who have replaced oil burners with heat pumps and made back the investment quite quickly and wa

Electric is extremely practical - I know a lot of New Englanders who have replaced oil burners with heat pumps and made back the investment quite quickly and warmly (it’s easy when a fill up of oil can cost close to a thousand dollars, and you will probably need two in a winter). Insulation helps a lot of course, but the main difficulty is just the upfront cost, time, and structural issues with houses that don’t have central air.

jabl 1y ago
My father replaced oil burning with an air-water heat pump. That is, the heat pump heats water that circulates in the same pipes and radiators that were used previously. Apart from installing the heat pump in the boiler room, no other changes in the house were necessary.
- jdeibele 1y ago
  Does that cool through the radiators as well as heat? It seems like it could but I've never heard of heat pumps being used like that.
  - jabl 1y ago
    No, heating only. I'd imagine trying to use them for cooling in the summer would easily lead to condensation and attendant moisture damage.