North Carolina is a milder climate than southern Alabama? You mean you think it will be cooler in Alabama?

To answer your question, a good heatpump will run great in southern AL.

How close to the coast?
Is your kitchen to be gas or electric?
What is the cost of gas and electricity in that area?

The more important thing, comfort-wise, would be to get a variable speed blower that works with a thermostat with 'dehumidify on demand'.

Thanks for the reply. I am sure Alabama will be much hotter in summer for us.

- 13 miles from the Gulf
- Gas kitchen range, option for gas clothes dryer, gas log fireplace
- the documentation I have shows a kilowatt hour is $.12 and gas is $2.1 per cubic foot for the amounts we would be using in a house this size

Why not do BOTH? It's what they call hybrid heat and then you can choose which you use whenever you want so you can pick the cheaper of the two whenever you want.

morgulrat

I would go all electric with high eff heat pump.

these are my minimum specs for a new HP system.

15 SEER, 12.5+ EER, 9 HSPF
best matching Var Speed air handler
full BTUs in both cooling and heating for your rated size
R-410a refrigerant(same as Puron)
scroll compressor preferred
electronic demand defrost preferred
thermostat with "dehumidify on demand" feature
staged backup heat strips
new and correctly sized refrigerant lineset

Because of your close proximity to the gulf and harsh coastal environment, I would recommend Trane's XL15i or sister company's American Std Heritage 15.

if you want to use gas for cooktop, dryer, hot water, logs, then you have that option.

accurate equipment sizing, good ductwork system including returns, and install by dealer are key to a successful new system.

IMO

Where milder/less mild matters is in the heating season with a heat pump. The AC functions about the same, but if it's too cold out the heat pump BTU output may not be enough to keep up. Even if you have plenty of AC capacity in the summer.

I assume you're on NG and not propane. Also, $2.1 per hundred cubic feet (ccf) would be more normal. Ours in ATL is around $1/therm (therm = ccf), and it might be $2.1 once you add on the administrative costs.

It might make sense, if you're already paying the overhead on your NG account, to go with a dual fuel system. The extra use spreads that admin cost further, if your system is set up to do it when it makes sense. A dual fuel system will run the HP until it can't keep up (or the controls lock it out based on outside temperature), then kick on the gas furnace as the 2nd stage.

This takes advantage of running the heat pump most of the time without needing electric heating strips as backup heat. The HP will put out about 3X as much heat as the energy it uses- that's what makes it cheaper to run than a NG furnace. But the backup heat strips are 1:1 on energy to heat, which usually isn't competitive with NG.

Also, I kind of like the idea of having a standard efficiency gas water heater. Offends my drive for efficiency, but as a kid on the N end of AL, the power went out enough during hurricanes, ice storms and the like that it was nice to still have hot water (and a fireplace) when that stuff happened.

OP does not need dual fuel for this location.

IMO

FWIW, consider scrapping the regular electric "marathon" water heater and using a heat pump water heater. I use an "airtap" unit and the savings are amazing.

Here is a link that might be useful: airtap

all electric would be fine, but if you already paying for the monthly gas service charge for you kitchen and range I would go with dual fuel.

The heatpump hot water tank sounds cool.

zippyhvac - how do you like that heatpump hot water tank? I saw the website from you link. Did you do the retrofit? Was it an easy install?