Living in a colder climate means our options for heating are quite limited.
- You really need something with a backbone to combat the severe cold.
Boilers, furnaces, and fireplaces are the norm where I live. What I don’t like is all the fuel burning. I don’t like how inefficient they are. If they get dirty, you have a fire hazard on your hands. I did some research and realized that I desperately wanted a heat pump system. This is both heating and cooling in a single unit. It works like a normal air conditioner in the summer and in the winter moves existing heat energy from outside to inside your home. A typical heat pump can only do this if the weather doesn’t drop below 40 degrees. My area does of course. There are high efficiency heat pumps that can handle any kind of weather and still produce, though my area doesn’t have that though. What we have instead is dual fuel systems or hybrid heating. This is where you take a heat pump and pair it with a gas furnace. Most of the year the heat pump is working to provide you temperature control. You get the severe energy savings, quiet operation, and clean air quality. Once the temperatures drop below 40 degrees, the heat pump automatically switches from electric to gas. The furnace tags in and ensures you never go without the proper amount of heat. So most of the time I save quite a bit of money. For my area and the harsh cold that is the best I can ask for.
