Heat pumps (real estate, how much, new home)

[synthnut]

This extreme cold is all over the country...I see a lot of heat pumps used in heating systems....Are they working okay for those of you who have them?......Thanks ....Jim

[suzy_q2010]

I am in NW Georgia.

We have a ground source heat pump. The thermostat is set on 68 degrees and we are fine. Low temp last night was in the mid teens.

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by synthnut

This extreme cold is all over the country...I see a lot of heat pumps used in heating systems....Are they working okay for those of you who have them?......Thanks ....Jim

They don't work at all in this sort of cold.

[daFrogMan]

When we were back in DE we had baseboard heat as well as a heat pump (installed as a/c needed replacement, went with heat pump).
They work awesome at certain temps (forgot which so I'm not going to quote it here) BUT once the temp gets below 40ish, they run, run and then run. However the heat strip comes on and goes off. So it is not recommended to switch to only the electric strip, emergency heat mode when it is only electric.
We had a 1500 sq ft house, crawl space next to an open field (wind.....). We did see $400 a month electric bills usually Jan/Feb. Had to get used to it running 24/7. Didn't bother us at night listening to the ceiling vents blowing all night. Still felt better than running the baseboard heaters that were orig to the house in the late 80s. We would use the baseboard heaters on occasion in certain rooms to bring the temp up a bit. Had 400 amp service to the house so overloading the power wasn't an issue.
If the house was built with a space for gas or oil heater (basement, etc) it would have been much better! We've had gas before elsewhere and if the htr is sized right, it is great especially if you have one of the 95% condensing heaters.
Heat pumps as an only source, Meh? Wouldn't rule it out but we know how they work and have to accept the way it is.
Cheers!

[picardlx]

Heat pump sole source for heat?


Maybe if you live in a new home designed for one -- by which I mean air tight and heavily insulated.


My home is about 100 years old, and the heat pump basically produces heat at the rate the house looses it during cold days. So thermostat calls the ole boiler (probably older than me) to get the house to a desired temp and tries to use the heat pump to keep it there -- still calling on the boiler for a few minutes of help several times an hour.


Despite the boiler use, overall monthly heating costs have gone down. But I've also put in a programmable thermostat and did some minor weather stripping -- so it's difficult to know how much of the savings is due solely to the heat pump running continuously instead of the boiler.


Now in the very hot and humid summer, my heat pump cannot be touched!


I have had my house at 62 degrees + 35 relative humidity --- while outside was in the high 90's with evil levels of humidity.

[synthnut]

Thanks guys.....

I’m reading a lot of real estate ads that mention heat pumps as the source of heat....I’m not sure if this is the only source of heat or not... I’ll have to investigate further.... This cold weather here in NY is WICKED!!!!!......Jim

[Gerania]

Originally Posted by synthnut

Thanks guys.....

I’m reading a lot of real estate ads that mention heat pumps as the source of heat....I’m not sure if this is the only source of heat or not... I’ll have to investigate further.... This cold weather here in NY is WICKED!!!!!......Jim

They're fine if you have backup. That far north, they're going to fail at some point.

http://www.hammerpedia.com/frost-line-map/

[G1..]

Really not meant for anything below 25/ 30 degrees. Ours is a new more efficient one but we do supplement it with a portable heater that costs us about .25 cents an hour.We will see what the electric bill looks like in a month.

[retired58]

Hyper Heat is a home heating system designed by Mitsubishi a couple of years ago. Hyper Heat is a heat pump system, but it adds an Inverter technology that allows it to maintain its efficiency when temperatures fall, all the way down to -13 degrees Fahrenheit . Is this true I don't know? The old ones only worked as GI mention 25-30 Fahrenheit and were better for milder states. Maybe his new one is Hyper heat as only he could answer that? This Hyper Heat is quite expensive as I have priced it to be installed for additional heat in my house but never did . The other con that I do have is that it is electric powered.