dpb wrote:

Pete C. wrote:
Caesar Romano wrote:
On Wed, 10 Oct 2007 07:41:19 -0400, Steven Andrade
wrote Re Gas or heat pump in Midwest?:

Just bought a house that's all electric and has a heat pump for heating.
Is that a good choice for the Midwest region? We're installing a gas line for a
fireplace and I wonder if I shouldn't replace the heat pump with a gas unit when
it dies. It's 18 years old now so I don't see many more days of life in it.
A heat pump quickly looses it's efficiency advantage over resistance
heating when the temp falls below 35F. If you live in a "cold"
climate area, unless your electric rate is very low, gas is usually
more cost effective.

Only true for air source heat pumps, old technology. Geothermal a.k.a.
ground source heat pumps have no such issue due to stable soil
temperatures.

But I would estimate at least 90% of all new heat pumps installed are
still air/air and is what virtually anyone means/thinks of when hear
"heat pump"...

Quite likely, which is why you have to specify "geothermal" or "ground
source". The air source units work ok in areas with outdoor air
temperatures that don't get too cold or hot, and are still cheaper than
ground source. Ground source have the advantage of near silent operation
in all cases since they don't have a big outdoor fan.