The DOE has worksheets that can help you calculate the relative cost of heating and cooling with different systems using your current energy costs. Of course you need to predict the relative costs over the next decade or two to really tell what is best. How is your crystal ball working? I would like to clear up a couple of common misconceptions. One type of heat does not dry a house in the winter any more than another. Leaky house envelopes dry houses. Heat by flame of some sort might dry a house more because they draw more outside air in if there is not a source of outside combustion air. That would be the only mechanism. There is nothing special about heat pumps in poorly-insulated, leaky homes. No heat or air conditioning source works as well in that situation as well as they do in tighter, well-insulated homes.

southermum, We've learned alot in a short period of time talking to other pool owners and reading this forum. It really depends on how you want to use the heater. For example: Are you getting a Spa? A gas heater will heat up the Spa in 20-30 minutes so you can be spontanuous.... a electric pump takes an hour or two to get the spa hot. However, our PB (and friends) told us the gas heater uses a lot of gas ($$) to heat up the entire pool. Are you planning to swim year round for laps or excercise?? If you are you may want to use the elec. heat pump to heat the pool because the monthly cost to heat the pool daily is much lower than gas. We have Natural Gas lines in our neighborhood and decided to go with the Gas heater becasue of the Spa... to get the usage of the spa I wanted to be able to heat it up quickly and not "plan" ahead to use my spa. We can heat the entire pool for those "special" winter days when we want to swim... Ex.. Company for Christmas and kids want to jump in. I love to swim for excercise and hope that we don't miss having a elec. heat pump to heat year round! However, several people who have spas told me they wish they had put in the Gas heater. OR... we know someone who installed both... gas heater to Quickly warm up the spa.... AND electric heater to keep pool temp at a lap swimming temp ALL YEAR ROUND! btw: We are in Central Florida so maybe all this does not apply as much to you. We just began our construction check out my earlier post. GoodLuck

Hi, We're just outside of Boston too, and we put in a pool last year. We do not have access to gas, so we put in an electric heat pump. Pros : 1: It really works! It is like a reverse air conditioner. However, the pool water will cool down overnight, or you could run it overnight. We did not run it overnight at all this cold summer. I set it for 80 and it ran a lot in the May, June, August and September, but... 2: I was surprised that our electric bills were not as high as I thought they would be. 3. You don't have to deal with a propane company, or extra plumbing charges to hook it up to your main gas line. Cons: 1: It is big! But we have a good landscaper who did a nice job with disguising the pool equipment. 2: We found that many pool service companies are extremely loyal to gas in New England and claim to know nothing about these types of pool heaters. Since the warranty is only one year, we might be stuck trying to find someone to service it, if we have problems. I think the heat pumps are way more popular in other regions of the country. Overall we're happy with it.

Just to insert another opinion here. There are a few more things to consider. I think Tiger’s estimate of existing oil boiler efficiency is overly optimistic at 82%. Depending on age, 65% might be more realistic. There’s no info on existing ductwork, was it designed for AC as in ceiling mounted that would not be optimal for heat distribution? What type of radiators are installed, aluminum finned or cast iron? What water temperature does the boiler have to heat water to, 140˚F or 180˚F? That also makes a big impact on efficiency and energy consumption! Average COP for a 3-ton Greenspeed in our region is calculated at 3.8. We’re in Montreal. Let’s for argument’s sake say the weather is comparable to Boston in winter. Greenspeed should be run down to a temperature of at least a low of +5˚F. According to Carrier, balance point in Montreal of a 3-ton Greenspeed in a 3000sq Ft home is calculated at ~+5˚F base on the BIN data for Montreal, 1,866hrs of AC & 6,894hrs of heating. Boston is not worse for heating. I think your electrical rate is sky high, however, the market for oil is very volatile. The price for electricity will likely be stable, oil, who knows. You’re looking at 2-very different systems that might not be easily integrated. If going with Greenspeed, oil might best be left as just a backup system. Where’s your oil tank; I hope not buried in the ground! You would need those backup electric heat strips previously mentioned, perhaps 15kW and staged. You might also have to upgrade your electrical entrance to 200amp. IMPO SR