We'd always had gas heat and electric air. We'd even had gas heat and gas air!! (That must be a thing of the past.) While building a new house, we definitely planned to have gas heat again. We were contacted by this excellent power company individual who convinced us we needed a heat pump. My husband was hard to convince. He'd planned to have two cha units and close off half the house from time to time.
But this guy was a super salesman. He said if we did what he planned for us he'd guarantee our heating and cooling bill would average $52 per month on our 3200 sq. ft. house. He said he'd put in a separate meter to measure the usage. We'd need only one cha unit and we'd insulate to the hilt. We fearfully went along with his directions. He taught us how to read the meter and keep up with usage. Keep in mind that if you don't have a separate meter for heating and cooling, you'd be counting the refrigerators, TV's and everything electrical. So this meter that you see above is still in the house and seeing it today reminded me of the heat pump history.
My husband was so afraid that he had gas run into the house in case he had to switch over. But he learned how to read the meter and he faithfully kept up with it for months and months. We were very pleased to find that the agent's promises came true. Our bills were so low we couldn't believe it! We loved the quietness of the unit and the comfort of the house. We were told how to save money with a heat pump.
The secret is to never touch the thermostat. Do not play with it and turn it up and down according to your whims. That causes emergency heat to come on and that is what is expensive. Find a comfort level and keep it. The other thing was never close off rooms in a house. So many people have always thought that shutting the vents in bedrooms and closing the doors saves energy. Wrong! It causes the unit to work harder because it has to blow against a closed area instead of being able to circulate as it is supposed to do.
We are totally sold on heat pumps. If you are building or replacing a unit you might consider one.
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Barbara, We've been in Virginia for twenty years, coming from New England and oil heat, no central air. I LOVE heat pumps too! (I can remember sweltering nights with a crappy fan that was loud and didn't do a whole lot!) My husband is an engineer (can you say anal) and he drove the HVAC guys crazy with the layout of the lines in the attic. EVerything in our house is electric. We built a 4000 sf home, three zone heat pumps and our average bill is $140 per month year round. Got to love that!