[amexsbow]

As I have lived in the South since 1946, I have seen a lot of extremes in the weather. The one thing it has taught me is NEVER OWN A HOME WITH A HEAT PUMP.
The recent debacle in TEXAS should make everyone sit up and take notice.
The heat pump is not efficient below 40 degrees.
During extreme cold, below 25 degrees an electric heat strip takes over to provide heat.

A home with natural gas will have hot water, a stove that works, a gas fireplace that works and the ability to have an emergency generator to provide electricity during extreme cold or during electrical outages.

[EdFNJ]

I guess that eliminates the vast majority of the homes here for you ??? We have had a few days (well, hours) below 30 degrees here in the 4 years we've been here and we have been warm and cozy and a few hours later the temps are in the 60's. I guess if we get down to the teens and have a snow/ice storm we might regret the heat pump. If that happens there will be a whole lot of new climate change believers.

[retiredguy123]

In The Villages, I am happy to have an all electric house with a heat pump. If the power goes out for an extended period, I will get in the car and drive to the nearest hotel with power.

[Toymeister]

Isn't it great to know if the heat pump cannot 'catch up' due to it being too cold that they automatically switch to quick reacting resistance heat and this technology has been used for over fifty years?

[M2inOR]

In Oregon, I had a large home with 2 heat pumps. They had natural gas heat as backup when temperatures were below 35°.

Never a problem for 40 years, unless there was a power failure. With no power, the HVAC system blowers won't blow. We did have a wood burning fireplace for heat, and lots of warm clothing and blankets.

Upgraded the heat pumps and natural gas furnaces every 12-15 years.

No complaints.

One time we had a power failure that lasted almost a week due to an ice storm. Once power was restored, we did purchase an emergency gas generator. Best purchase we ever made as we never had a power failure of more than a few hours. Never had to fire up the generator except for maintenance. We could tolerate a few hours of no power.

Very happy with our heat pump HVAC system in our Marsh Bend home.

[Bill14564]

Had heat pumps on two homes in Maryland where winter temps regularly fall below 30 degrees. Never had a problem. Yes, at a certain temperature the resistance heating will kick in. The resistance heat kept our home warm, the only downside was the extra electricity it used.

[Bay Kid]

I have heat pumps in my VA. home. Over 30 years and they work fine. I have a generator in case the power goes out. Much more reasonable cost.

[santiagobob]

I've had heat pumps for 49 years, first in Cary, N.C. and now here in the villages. Never had a problem keeping warm and never had to worry about having a gas leak. Nine out of ten house fires in the villages were due to gas leaking or set off by lightening hitting the gas lines running thru the attic. Great idea to run gas filled metal lines where lightening is must likely to strike.
It was reported that in Texas, the natural gas well heads froze up and the gas fed electric power plants had to shut down. So much for gas being a reliable source of power.
I was told a few years ago that no new houses below 466A had gas as a choice. That must have changed.

[M2inOR]

Originally Posted by santiagobob

...
I was told a few years ago that no new houses below 466A had gas as a choice. That must have changed.

South of 44, natural gas is available in Marsh Bend which is west of the turnpike. East of the turnpike, there's no natural gas.

As for lightning, several months ago a home in our neighborhood was struck by lightning. A casualty was the natural gas pipe in the attic which developed a slow leak and caught fire. Fortunately it was discovered early, but still had minor damage to some of the trusses as well as the roof. Neighbor was quite lucky. Lightning struck the roof, traveled down the Ethernet cables in the attic and office, the front light post, and then to the gas pipeline.

Lightning will find a way to do the damage!

[Malsua]

Originally Posted by amexsbow

As I have lived in the South since 1946, I have seen a lot of extremes in the weather. The one thing it has taught me is NEVER OWN A HOME WITH A HEAT PUMP.
The recent debacle in TEXAS should make everyone sit up and take notice.
The heat pump is not efficient below 40 degrees.
During extreme cold, below 25 degrees an electric heat strip takes over to provide heat.

A home with natural gas will have hot water, a stove that works, a gas fireplace that works and the ability to have an emergency generator to provide electricity during extreme cold or during electrical outages.

Well, since the gas and electric were out in Texas, a gas furnace wouldn't have worked too well either. Propane possibly but you still need a genset to run the electronics.

I suppose you're suggesting 140,000 residents have a wood burner backup for the few days annually where the temp is below 35 for 4 hours in the morning?

[tsmall22204]

This all well and good. I do not disagree. Soooo will you pay to have gas piped into our neighborhood so we can enjoy your suggestions?

[J1ceasar]

Please move to the tropics. Very simply the reason so many people use what they do is that certain developers are too cheap to have the gas company to put lines in. Luckily I live outside the bubble, have gas and cook with it as well . The problem Texas has is they have a laissez-faire pricing system which allows huge jumps up and down which is good for 90% of the time they also have a government which for years has delayed putting in place expensive regulations regarding of electric lines and power generating plants further they are not interconnected with other states electrical supplies due to the large size of Texas they felt they never needed it. If you would be just a little bit you would see how the west and northern parts of Texas did fine. And don't blame one particular political party as I can come back at you and blame The Californians for the same problem they had for many years they were the other party

[Rwirish]

Well you will be passing on most homes in TV.

[jabacon6669]

This is not true. I have a Fujitsu heat pump, and it makes heat down to -15 below zero. There are no heat strips. Those units in my house in Maine blow hot air, that I can attest to down to -5 degrees below zero. Haven't seen it colder than that. Mitsubishi will make heat down to -5 degrees below zero. I have a mini split system with three heads that operate off of 1 36k condenser, ones a 18k head that heats and cools our all glass 12' x 30' Florida room. One is a 12k that does the same for a 16' x 25' family room, and the third is a 6k which does a back hall and lav. This is now my primary heat. My propane run FHW baseboard with 4 zones has now become our back up.

[jabacon6669]

The best insurance against power outages, which can happen anywhere, for many reasons, is a whole house generator. Propane or Natural gas is the best. Switches on automatically when the power goes out. Ours is propane operated Genrac. Which I can monitor from the villages all winter. It runs every Wednesday at 2pm for 5 minutes as an exercise. Best investment we or anyone could make.