How Much Does it Cost to Heat a Home in Zone 4 With a Heat Pump?

[NateW]

First HVAC consideration is what kind of fuel is available? How expensive is electricity? How cold is the climate? What are your neighbors using?

Natural gas heat would be my preference. But we live 10 miles out of town with farms surrounding us, and our choices are electricity or LP. Our electricity is 10 cents a KWH and LP is very expensive. And our climate is the Mid South--not too cold.

Homes in our area use electric heat pumps. Some have the compressor/condenser and the air handler split. Others use Package heat pumps with the whole unit outside the foundation. We have one of each--upstairs and downstairs.

Our biggest heating and cooling months will have a $375 per month heating bill for 3900 square feet with very tall ceilings.

My lake house heat pump compressor locked up and I've got to replace the whole split unit. I'm going to install a new generation Mr. Cool Universal inverter heat pump that heats to below 0 degrees without a secondary heat coil. Online, they get very good ratings, and they have very high quality components. I suggest you look at them online.

Thanks Bamaman. Yes, we are seeing propane as the other heating fuel in some of the homes we've looked at online. At this point I want to avoid them. I would rather have a heat pump if I had a choice between the two.

There is a safety concern with propane that many people may not be aware of. Propane is heavier than air and if it leaks, will collect and pool in low lying areas and become a real fire/explosion hazard. Natural gas, being lighter than air dissipates when it leaks and the risk of fire or explosion is less.

I'll look at the Mr. Cool Universal Inverter heat pump.

 

[HarveyS]

Why don't you ask the realtor for the last 12 month utility bills for any house you look at?

 

[NateW]

Thank you HarvyS. Excellent idea; I'll do that.

 

[Bruno]

Why don't you ask the realtor for the last 12 month utility bills for any house you look at?

I would have to agree this might be the best way to get heating cost of a house. WAY yoo many variables to come up with a overall cost. Even this has several questions ..like how big is house, Type of shingles, what do they keep thermostat set at, how well house insulated, and ect.

 

[Out of Steam]

Thanks Out of Steam. I lived in Northern Virginia for many years and VEPCO rates were about 9 cents a kw-hr a few years ago and a good percentage of the newer houses have heat pumps.

Our current rate is about 12 cents a kWh, and the majority of houses near us have heat pumps.

 

[Out of Steam]

So, in the old days a HP had a SEER or 10 or 12 and they did not work so well unless way oversized. Now days a properly sized system with a High SEER rating does very well even when below 30F outside.

We went through our first winter with a no backup resistance strips on our heat pump while waiting for the gas connection. The heat pump alone could keep the house at 67ºF down to 27ºF outside. I turned on one electric heater below that. I bought a second during the winter, but only used it to work in the garage.

Fortunately, it was a mild winter.

 

[mpeirce]

Natural gas heat would be my preference.

Just FYI, there are a growing number of places that are banning new gas hookups.

All part of our zero carbon future.