Which areas have gas heat?
 

Which areas in The Villages have gas heat?

We have always had gas heat in our home. We turn the thermostat pretty far down at night. In the morning, we turn on the heat, and the house gets comfortably warm very quickly.

We have heard this method would not work well with a heat pump, where you are not supposed to change the thermostat setting very often. Based on your experience, is that true?

We are south of 466A and we do not have gas heat. We set out thermostat at 78 for cooling and 70 for heat and hardly ever change it. We are from upstate NY and had gas heat but for us this seams to work out just fine.

Natural gas in The Vollages started in late 1999 near the Village of Santiago. It continued till early 2007 near the Village of Duval! I know my friends up in southern Indiana have heat pumps and they said they are very finicky about making quick adjustments to the thermostats. I have never had one and don't plan on having one. I hope that helps you!

Heat pumps are fine. No one needs to be "finicky" about turning one up or down. In TV where temps are not that extreme, a heat pump will bring the temperature up in you home fairly quickly. It is a different story up north since a heat pump simply pulls heat from the atmosphere and if the temp outside is20 or 25 degrees it may need auxiliary heat. Heat pumps, especially the newer ones are very energy efficient.

Heat pumps work best in moderate climates, southern Indiana is not. I don't remember "finicky" in my engineering textbooks. People are finicky, heat pumps are not.

Heatpumps, when in heating mode, work best when the thermostat is left at a fixed temperature. The reason for this is typically a difference between the actual temperature in the house and the thermostat setpoint of a few degrees will trigger the auxiliary heat (electrical resistance strips and they use power at about 3x the rate of the compressor). This is what will happen if you move the thermostat up and down. In other words, if you never change the thermostat setting the auxiliary heat will probably never come on. If you don't care about cost, then feel free to move the thermostat up and down (although presumably the only reason to do that is to try to save costs). We leave the heat setting at 70F in the winter months.

On some thermostats, you can set an auxiliary heat lockout temperature. This will prevent the auxiliary heat from coming on and only the compressor will be used regardless of the difference between the actual temperature in the house the thermostat setpoint. This will save costs.The problem with this approach is that heatpumps put out less heat than a gas furnace so it takes longer to increase the temperature of the house. They work most efficiently when asked to maintain a fixed temperature.

Heatpumps are fundamentally different than a gas furnace. The amount of heat produced by a gas furnace is independent of the outside temperature. The amount of heat produced by a heatpump is a function of the outside temperature. The reason for this is because heatpumps don't generate heat directly (except for when the auxiliary heating strips are activated). They extract heat from the outside air and move it inside. This is essentially the reverse operation of air conditioning where heat is extracted from the inside air and moved outside. The amount of heat that can be extracted from the outside air drops as the outside temperature drops.

Heatpumps are incredibly efficient in our temperature zone if you just set and forget.

I believe all Marion County has Natural Gas. That probably district 3 and 4 areas north of 466. Usually it listed in the sales add what type of heat home has. I've had both and Heat pump air lot cooler than gas takes longer to heat up cold house. If you set the temp and leave it alone you hardly notice it.

Just set your thermostat to turn the heat on an hour or so before you get up and the house will be already warm. There is no need to do it yourself when you get up and put up with a chilly home for an hour.

I believe there is gas heat in Belvedere, just south of 466.

My biggest complaint with the heat pump is hot air rises, and the vents are in the ceiling, so we have to set the temp higher to keep the house warm. That and the fact that it is such a dry heat. I get nosebleeds all winter long, and you cannot put a humidifier on the heat pump. We'd need those small humidifiers everywhere as there's not a good place for a bigger one. And I don't like the cold mist humidifiers as they make the air feel chilly.

I guess it depends on the person but we have used the heat ( pump ) maybe ten times
in the five years we've owned. We're from Western NY so Florida winters can be handled
with proper dress. Summers are another story so we set at 78 degrees and go back to Buffalo.

We have gas heat in Santo Domingo.

Gas lines run through the ceiling. This part of Florida is the lightning capital of the U.S.

I have had both heat pump and now, gas heat (both in Fl). I would never go back to a heat pump if I had the choice. Gas heat just feels warmer at the same thermostat setting, imo. I think it has to do with the temperature of the air coming out of the vents. A heat pump does not heat the air like a gas heater does, so the air coming out of the vent is cooler, thus the chilling effect if you are in the path of the moving air. I have found that to get the same warm comfort level of gas heat, I had to jack up the thermostat a few extra degrees with the heat pump. Also, I think a heat pump will wear out sooner than a gas/AC system, since the heat pump compressor runs year around.

The areas with gas go south to just south of Lake Sumter Landing.

The vents would be in the ceiling if you had gas heat. That is a pretty typical setup for ranches on a slab. The heated air (from the vents) would feel "dryer" if you had gas heat since the supply temperatures are higher with a gas furnace than a heatpump and the supply air would have a lower relative humidity. The actual relative humidity in the house would not be impacted. Have you talked to an HVAC company about installing a humidifier? They do make them for heatpumps. Keep in mind that the average dewpoint in January is about 50F. When that amount of moisture is heated to 70F, a typical indoor winter temperature, you wind up with an indoor relative humidity of about 50%. This is generally considered to be "desirable". The dewpoint on any given day can certainly be lower and the inside relative humidity will drop as the house "breathes" the dryer outside air but in an average sense we aren't "dry" in the winter. You certainly don't want indoor relative humidities of say 70% as that is probably not good for the house, although your nose might like it.

Just to take a little of the mystery out of why natural gas is available in only certain areas of TV, here is how it was explained to us by our Builder during our new home walk-thru last year:

TV Construction Office adopted a concept for construction called "common trenching". This process provided a "common trench", paid for and dug by the Developer, for all the Utilities to utilize for their infrastructure (pipes, cables, inter-connects, etc.). This process was very beneficial to the Utility Companies as they did not have to absorb/incur the cost of trenching for their own stuff. The catch, however, was that the Utility Companies had to work along with TV's construction schedule, and be ready to get their stuff into the trenches on TV's schedule rather than their own. If a company couldn't meet the schedule, they risked being left out of the trench, and having to dig their own, or just not have their utility provided in TV. At a point in time around the expansion south of 466, the Natural Gas supplier made a business decision that they could not consistently meet TV's schedule, so they opted out, and chose not to go thru the extra steps (and hassles) of digging their own single trench for gas piping.

Thus, there is no Natural Gas in most areas south of 466, and definitely the areas south of 466A. The decision was not driven by safety, cost of Natural Gas, who won the Kentucky Derby or March Madness. It was simply a business decision by the Utility.

Hope that helps, at least in terms of figuring "why" there's no natural gas in certain areas. Cheers!!

We are in the southern portion of Liberty Park and have gas. However, St. Charles just across Bailey trail does not have gas.

We've got gas heat in Winifred.
--
Bob C

Lynnhaven, Ashland, Belvedere and bonny brook all have gas!

Slight correction!
Cats are finicky, not people, people are heavy handed and beer muscled!

we have gas as well and do have the controversial yellow gas lines in the attic.
Whe we had the house built we designed it to be either all electric or all gas or combo (which we have now).

If you do as well be sure to very the juction in the attic is properly grounded at the electrical control panel.

Thanks for all of your very informative responses!!

Now we understand why some neighborhoods have gas heat and others do not, and we are now aware that even with neighborhoods like Liberty Park and St. Charles being so close together, one neighborhood can have gas heat and the other may not.

It is interesting that some of you are very happy with a heat pump and others really like their gas heat.

I have had both sources in The Villages. I would take the heat pump over gas.

Florida and specifically here in TV the climate is very conducive for heat pump tecnology. They are most effective in temperatures above 30 degrees. The colder the temperature the longer the unit will run as it is more difficult to extract heat from the lower temps. Hence heat pumps in very cold weather may sometimes run all day without satisfying the thermostat setting. They are designe for continuos operation.

And for some heat pump air just does not feel as warm on the skin as gas heated air.

In the past in very long, cold winter areas I have had installations with dual systems....heat pump with gas back up. Alittle more expense but using the best of both heat source capabilites for optimum comfort.

I doesn't get cold here.

When we visited my wife's parents in Orlando, it was below freezing and there was ice all over the bushes.

Gas heat
 

Gas everything in Village of La Zamora, north of 466