Is a heat pump really a good idea for the north?

15 years ago

Hello!

We are currently trying to finish up some upgrades before the winter hits. We have an old (~100 yrs) house, a little drafty, in northern Ohio. It has electric baseboard heat which was VERY expensive to use last year.

We are now considering for the first floor a wood stove, although we did get an estimate on a heat pump (they'd have to install ductwork and everything it would need).

While i've read a lot on how efficient they are, how they do cooling and heating - but i've been noticing more and more that they do not work below a certain temperature very well, and we'd have to use back up heat regardless below 40 or 30 degrees - which would mean using our electric baseboard heaters and getting big heating bills again....

Does anyone out there live in the north, have an older house, and is happy with using an electric air heat pump?

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Comments (3)

djdoggone
15 years ago
Big Al pointed me toward the Acadia heat pump by Hallowell. They seem to have developed the technology to get heat out of the air down to minus 30. It's new enough, though, that I haven't found owners talking about it on the web.

Their smallest unit is too big for us, but I'm hoping they'll offer something smaller. If they do we'll use it and a wood stove as a booster/backup for really frosty New England weather.

Good luck. We're all choking over energy bills.

Here is a link that might be useful: Acadia Heat Pump
tigerdunes
15 years ago
mees

electric baseboard heat is one of the worst heating methods available.

what fuels are readily available for winter heating?

a high eff heat pump would be a big improvement over what you have.

tell us about size, type of home, and its insulation qualities.

IMO
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mees135
Original Author
15 years ago
Home is a two-story, about 2,000 sq feet - no duct work. no natural gas out here, no fire place. There used to be a coal furnace in the basement, but its been removed by previous owners. Insulation is poor - 20yrs ago cellulose was blown in, but not densely packed in. We're replacing some leaky windows (eventually the whole house, but a couple at a time).

We were thinking heat pump on the first floor (there are rectangles of plywood where the old ductwork used to be), with a heat handler with electrical strip to serve as back up.

However, the more I read about it, the more i'm wondering if it could keep up. the house is about 3x draftier than a standard home (we had an energy star home assessment done). I've read that their efficiency goes down as it gets colder, plus extra energy is used by them to keep ice off the coils in the winter. Add that to the duct work needed in the basement, which is an uninsulated dirt floor basement (you'd have to insulate the ductwork), the eff goes down even more.

Its nice with a heat pump that it cools and heats - but with the decrease in eff in the winter of the unit, plus an unheated basement, plus a drafty house - i'm thinking it may not keep up. I'm thinking putting the money towards a wood stove, then sump pump and insulating the basement instead.

Any thoughts?

Is a heat pump really a good idea for the north?

Comments (3)

djdoggone

tigerdunes

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Is a heat pump really a good idea for the north?

Comments (3)

djdoggone

tigerdunes

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