[VApeople]

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?

[MikeV]

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.

[VillagerNut]

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!

[Fred R]

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.

[RickeyD]

Originally Posted by VillagerNut

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 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.

[biker1]

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.

Originally Posted by VApeople

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?

[Topspinmo]

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.

[Gordon82]

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.

[CFrance]

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.

[raynitsche]

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.

[Goober III]

We have gas heat in Santo Domingo.

[graciegirl]

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

[outlaw]

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.

[llaran]

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

[biker1]

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.

Originally Posted by CFrance

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.