Does anyone here have a heat pump?
Does it adequately heat in the dead of winter?
What is the electricity consumption?
Looking for some local knowledge in our common conditions
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Does anyone here have a heat pump?
Does it adequately heat in the dead of winter?
What is the electricity consumption?
Looking for some local knowledge in our common conditions
Got one installed first week of July 2022 after our furnace died. There is a heat pump that does double duty (heat/cool) and a small NG furnace that also acts as a fan mostly. I think we had a few days of "auxillary" heat in January/February this past winter when the NG kicked in (after I enabled that in January but not sure it was really needed). I keep the house (~2800 sq ft incl. finished basement space) at 22C daytime year round and 18-20C overnight in winter so equipment runs full-time; and have a HRV for fresh air exchange.
I haven't looked at the actual KW usage and I don't pay attention to TOD usage but same period 12-month comparison of statement total is a difference of about $250 higher for Hydro One after the heat pump/new furnace was installed. I'll have to check the reduction in my Enbridge cost for the same YoY period but that is down much more for net savings. There is minimal incremental cost for NG in January/February (few days), fireplace (mostly for dogs drying out/warming up after snow/rain), and just water heater and BBQ rest of year or summer, respectively. Just wish all the non-NG taxes/fees on Enbridge billing are taken away as they are generally higher than my NG usage now.
Last edited by 92redragtop; 11-01-2023 at 09:58 AM.
I'm pretty cheap on heat. I turn off the furnace overnight, even in dead of winter. I'll run for an hour or two first thing and then either turn off or drop temp when I'm moving around. I don't have AC and simply use a fan when things are stupid hot. That was 3-4 days this past summer. I pay attention to time of day for electrical usage, laundry after hours. I should do my welding after hours too. My furnace is a tank. First gen high efficiency. No circuit boards and a heat exchanger that can shrug off a bullet. My biggest untapped gain looks to be tankless water heating as I'm solo here and keeping even a smaller tank hot is costing me.
Sounds like there's no point for you unless you were were replacing your furnace - and even then, it would likely only benefit whomever lives in the house after you. If you run your house cooler in winter then these heat pumps would likely work for you (that's based on last winter's temps).
I’m also interested in getting a heat pump to replace my aging ng furnace. Any info and knowledge in this area would be helpful. I live in Caledon.
Natural Gas Furnace > Heat Pump any day. Factor in equipment cost, energy consumption, future repair costs, fluctuating heat output.
Doing my part to boost the economy
I'm not crazy about having a single energy source, electricity. Combine that with a smart meter and a thermostat with external controllability (wifi/Bluetooth) and you have a system that outside forces can tinker with or shut off.
I'm currently on the grid and use gas, water, electricity from external suppliers. When I eventually move top of my list will be grid independence to as high a degree as possible. I could see a heat pump as part of a new build when the excavator is already on site and you've got provision for off grid power, and maybe a wood boiler.
I think that is the case today but wouldn't the subsidies offset a lot of that in today's lower volume environment but as the volume of installed heat pumps increase you'd get scale economies on both initial cost as well as replacement parts and repairs (typical product life cycle cost curve)? NG furnaces are only cheap today because of the volume installed and gas subsidies?