We live in Maryland, and our house has a 30 year old natural gas furnace in the basement. When that goes we are definitely planning on switching to something more eco-friendly. Anyone else on here in this area who has a heat pump? I admittedly have not done a ton of research on them or if they are effective in our climate zone.
this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
69 points (100.0% liked)
Climate - truthful information about climate, related activism and politics.
5053 readers
386 users here now
Discussion of climate, how it is changing, activism around that, the politics, and the energy systems change we need in order to stabilize things.
As a starting point, the burning of fossil fuels, and to a lesser extent deforestation and release of methane are responsible for the warming in recent decades:
How much each change to the atmosphere has warmed the world:
Recommended actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the near future:
Anti-science, inactivism, and unsupported conspiracy theories are not ok here.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
I'm not in your area, but the big thing is to find a contractor familiar with heat pumps. A lot of them just haven't done them before, and will say anything to get you to choose something they're familiar with.
Only works on super well insulated homes. If you have a slightly drafty house they'll never get you there and you'll need supplemental heating still.
This depends enormously on the house, and fixing heat leaks is a way to cut your bills whether or not you install a heat pump.
kind of similar situation up here in nova scotia, they work really well for our situation
it's good to see people finally converting!
The technology is making it possible... They can work "as heat pumps" in far colder climates than they used to not all that long ago. Allowing them to avoid switching over to electric strips heat longer.
I'm not wishing our system to have problems but the new compressors are pretty amazing! But of course, like everything, they're expensive too :)
The cost isn't that bad if you are up to DIY. You can get 3 ton/36k btu mini split units that will heat/cool 1500 sqft for around 3k.
You have to have power pulled to the outdoor compresor, but otherwise you drill a first sized hole in your external wall, mount the internal "head" unit over the hole and run the power/compressor/drainage hoses down to the outside unit. Bend the compressor hoses into a bundle, plug everything in, turn it on. Lots of great youtube guides.
Depending on what the electrical runs costs you, you may be able to get it all done for 5k.
That's true, I was mostly thinking of full central air/heat systems.