Do you have an air-to-air heat pump?

Question

I asked this already in another category but I didn't get many answers so I thought I'd try here.

My family is thinking about installing an air-to-air heat pump but first we wanted to find out from people who actually have one if it's a good idea. We've looked up about it a lot and already know how they work and everything, so I'm not looking for more information like that... I'm just wondering, for anyone who has one, if you've been pleased with it. We live in Michigan, in the US, so answers from people who live in a place with a similar climate would be helpful. We'd be switching from propane. The backup heat we're going to have is electric; I can't remember the term for it but it will go in our heat ducts and it works kind of like the wire things on a toaster. So please, anybody who has one, let me know what you think.

Answer 1

You might want to talk to another HVAC contractor.  Heat pumps are not very efficent in winter as far south as KY.  Electric resistance heat is very expensive here, and we have fairly cheap electricity.  Heat pumps are fundenmentally a great idea in warmer parts of the country, but here they are not proving to be a good option in the northeast.  In the mid-seventies several residential developments were built in this area to be modern all electric communities so no natural gas was installed.  That forced every home to have heat pumps instead of the normal central air/furnace units.  I know some of the units installed were undersized and ran constantly in the summer heat for air conditioning and also strained and used the back-up electric resistance heat in the cold of winter to barely keep the house warm.  Most of the units failed within 5 years, the properly sized units usually failed within 8 years.  Most failures were the outside units containing the compressor, probably related to the duty cycle.  My parents had a house in one of those and about every 6 to 8 years they replaced theres'; the second replacement was even a larger unit.  In the past few years the power company offered to put in gas lines if the owner would split the cost, around $3000.  Several homeowners paid the cost and converted their whole system back to a conventional split system to save money and headaches.  Don't get me wrong, heat pumps work well in parts of the country with more moderate tempertures and lower humidity.  They work great in the southwest where the winter temps rarely drop below freezing.  If I remember correctly, the electronic resistance heat; ( which is designed to be for backup only), turns on whenever the outside temperture is below 40 to 50 degrees F.  That is most of the winter in northern KY.  I don't see it working very well in the winter in MI; unless you have a well insulated house with very cheap electricty or have a natural gas or propane furnace for backup heat during the winter.

And of course in my house, I have a split system with a natural gas furnace.  Very few problems with uneven heat and so far has been cheaper to heat in winter than electric heat or heat pump.