[gsk22]

Slight tangent, but same issue with the ongoing heat pump hype.

"New heat pumps work in the cold now!" where cold is defined as down to 10 degrees F.

That's probably sufficient for most "cold" places, but in Minneapolis every winter we have multi-day stretches where the high temperature is below 10. Large swathes of the northern states are in a similar boat.

Hopefully we can solve these issues, because I don't want to be left behind technologically and environmentally!

[oh_sigh]

Resistive heaters for those situations work fine. They'll be unused for 95% of the year and are extremely cheap/simple.

[Volundr]

Exactly. My heat pump (or rather in this case the air handler) has a single resistive heat strip (but can take up to 4) in it that's used when the temperature is too low. It'll also kick on the heat strip to change the temperature quickly if the target temp is far from the current temp.

The combination heat pump+heat strip does struggle to keep things comfortable when we hit -15, but that's a once a year type deal here, and if it bothered us enough we could add another strip.

Frankly I don't think most of the folks with gas heat fare better during those snaps. Either system can be made capable of course, but it's uncommon enough here that nobody's system is sized to maintain a cozy 70 when it happens.