Any building or house that uses a central air system for air conditioning probably uses a heat pump for heating. Heat pumps work great when it's 40F outside, but not when it's -7F - to heat at this low of temperature they need a lot of power.
I keep hearing the question of why do Texans have enough power to cool their homes in the summer but now don't have enough electricity to go around for heating? - heat pumps are a lot of the problem.
A heat pump will still provide heat at those temperatures, just not enough of it to keep a house comfortable for humans (but likely enough to keep the pipes from freezing). Once you go below 20F or so, assuming you have a decent heat pump, you are going to need resistive heating to supplement (this is based on my own observations running a heat pump in a cold climate). It also doesn't help that houses in Texas likely aren't all that well insulated despite it being beneficial during hot summers too. A tight building envelope keeps heat in AND out of a structure.
Don't mock heat pumps, they are one of the most efficient sources of home heating (being that that move it from outside to inside) and recent tech advances make them viable in cold climates. Their primary downside is the "fuel" is more expensive then straight burning natural gas.
But ground source heat pumps work like a gem in this type of situation. Drilling holes in Texas is pretty well understood work too, so you can easily have 3,000BTu/h of heat pump that will perform better through all environmental conditions, and can even be better secured in a hurricane.
My heat pump is sized to function without auxiliary heat down to -20F or so. Maybe -30F if there's no wind, and nobody uses the showers because it also provides hot water. I probably wouldn't have bought such a heat pump if I lived in Texas, though.
This should not be voted 0 while parent is voted 5. The parent's information about heat pumps is obsolete (modern heat pumps don't have this limitation) and misleading/inaccurate (heat pumps aren't widely-used enough in Texas to be related to this problem).
Not every place with central AC is going to have heat pumps. The home I grew up in here in Fla had one, the apartment I am at now in Fla has a central AC with electric restive heating in it. My grand parents in the mid west had a central AC with gas fired heat. Heat pumps don't work well below freezing. When they are operating in heat pump heating mode they are basically reverse air conditioners. The outside coils get cold. If the air is already at or near freezing then the coils will be at freezing and the
Nope.
https://www.eia.gov/ [eia.gov]
EIA did a study. I couldn't find the detail but about 40% of Texas heating was gas fired furnace.
60% was electric, mostly in the South and mostly resistance heat.
Anecdotally from someone who has lived here 40 years, I didn't know a single person with a heat pump until last year. I priced one. It was much more expensive than an AC gas furnace. I know it shouldn't be. But its still a novelty here slowly wearing off.
Heat pumps work great when it's 40F outside, but not when it's -7F
Only very old ones can't handle that. Modern ones are still very efficient down at -7F.
And a vast portion of Texas heats with natural gas, not heat pumps. It's waaaay cheaper than using a heat pump. You'd only use a heat pump if you didn't have natural gas service. And even then you'd look long and hard at propane before going with a heat pump.
Texas is Natural Gas country. They use shitloads of it. I would imagine that most homes have a gas furnace for heat in combination with that heat pump. When it's only a little chilly outside, the heat pump gets the job done, and efficiently. However, when the outside temperature falls to a point where the heat pump isn't operating efficiently, the natural gas furnace kicks in and heats the house very efficiently.
There are a lot of mobile/manufactured homes in Texas, and the manufacturers of these aren't known for fitting things out with quality equipment. A family member just purchased a new one this autumn and when they requested a heat pump they were told it was not an option, so they ended up with an *electric* furnace and an conventional air conditioner; which is a shame, had they forgone the AC they could have grafted a mini-split A-coil onto the furnace/air handler.
Anyone who imagines that all fruits ripen at the same time
as the strawberries, knows nothing about grapes.
-- Philippus Paracelsus
Central air doesn't help (Score:-1)
Any building or house that uses a central air system for air conditioning probably uses a heat pump for heating. Heat pumps work great when it's 40F outside, but not when it's -7F - to heat at this low of temperature they need a lot of power.
I keep hearing the question of why do Texans have enough power to cool their homes in the summer but now don't have enough electricity to go around for heating? - heat pumps are a lot of the problem.
Re:Central air doesn't help (Score:5, Interesting)
Don't mock heat pumps, they are one of the most efficient sources of home heating (being that that move it from outside to inside) and recent tech advances make them viable in cold climates. Their primary downside is the "fuel" is more expensive then straight burning natural gas.
Re: (Score:3)
But ground source heat pumps work like a gem in this type of situation. Drilling holes in Texas is pretty well understood work too, so you can easily have 3,000BTu/h of heat pump that will perform better through all environmental conditions, and can even be better secured in a hurricane.
Re: (Score:2)
And ground source is even better for air conditioning in the hot ass Texas summer...
Re: Central air doesn't help (Score:2)
My heat pump is sized to function without auxiliary heat down to -20F or so. Maybe -30F if there's no wind, and nobody uses the showers because it also provides hot water.
I probably wouldn't have bought such a heat pump if I lived in Texas, though.
Re: (Score:2)
Our heat pump has gas as the backup heating. Due to market conditions and sizing for the climate, below 45F the gas heat is used.
Re: (Score:1)
This should not be voted 0 while parent is voted 5. The parent's information about heat pumps is obsolete (modern heat pumps don't have this limitation) and misleading/inaccurate (heat pumps aren't widely-used enough in Texas to be related to this problem).
Re: (Score:1)
Re: Central air doesn't help (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Heat pumps work great when it's 40F outside, but not when it's -7F
Only very old ones can't handle that. Modern ones are still very efficient down at -7F.
And a vast portion of Texas heats with natural gas, not heat pumps. It's waaaay cheaper than using a heat pump. You'd only use a heat pump if you didn't have natural gas service. And even then you'd look long and hard at propane before going with a heat pump.
Re: (Score:2)
Texas is Natural Gas country. They use shitloads of it. I would imagine that most homes have a gas furnace for heat in combination with that heat pump. When it's only a little chilly outside, the heat pump gets the job done, and efficiently. However, when the outside temperature falls to a point where the heat pump isn't operating efficiently, the natural gas furnace kicks in and heats the house very efficiently.
Re: (Score:2)
There are a lot of mobile/manufactured homes in Texas, and the manufacturers of these aren't known for fitting things out with quality equipment. A family member just purchased a new one this autumn and when they requested a heat pump they were told it was not an option, so they ended up with an *electric* furnace and an conventional air conditioner; which is a shame, had they forgone the AC they could have grafted a mini-split A-coil onto the furnace/air handler.