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by thaeli
1190 days ago
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I'm in the US and have had a heat pump for 15 years. It was a fairly small cost add from a straight cool. I get this depends on region, especially for the older units, but I never understood why they were such a hard sell even in mild heating climates. Ironically, I bought this system because at the time natural gas looked like it would be becoming more expensive more quickly than electricity in my area. Since the cost delta was small, and I don't think it made my total monthly utility bills any higher, no big deal, but I might not have even bothered with a heat pump if I'd known about the fracking boom at the time. (I'm also fortunate enough to live in a state with powerful utility regulators, so electricity prices never spiralled like they did in "deregulation" areas.) |
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When I really looked at the numbers though, my cost of electricity is so high, and my natural gas is so cheap, that I would need a COP of over 5 or an HSPF of around 20 on the heat pump to just break even on heating- I pay about 16.5 cents per KWH for electricity all in, and $1.05/therm for natural gas in NJ just outside of NYC. Efficiencies that high don't exist on central units. It would cost me easily an extra $100/month to heat my home, and the additional upfront cost was $7-10k. In cooling mode they are slightly less efficient than the best AC units as well, not by a significant amount- but its not like it will make up for it on the cooling side of things.
I really wanted to go this route, but this would be an extra upfront as well as ongoing cost. I really have no option but to replace with a conventional system and in 10-15 years re-evaluate. I will likely eventually get solar, but my roof is currently close to, but not yet at its end of life, and I have a townhome with limited roof space and a historic district to contend with, its not going to solve the electricity cost problem.