I have a heat pump, so my air conditioner is my heater, heat pumps are basically just an AC running in reverse.
In general, my wife and I don’t mind it being cold, we’re willing to let the temperature in our house get down to about the mid-low 50s (F, obviously) in the winter, so we do end up using a lot less electricity in the winter. But if we tried to keep our house at a warmer temperature that most people would find comfortable, it would probably be about the same.
Our gas bill over winters is over $200/month (AUD), due to our gas central heater
Comparatively, our three split-system ACs (2 bedrooms, main living area) over summer at most cost us ~$50/month.
Yet even still, trying to convince the missus that we’re better off running the split-systems in heater-mode would be more efficient and cost-effective is an uphill struggle.
Yeah I live in Florida. Our winters it might get close to freezing, some days. Maybe a little under overnight.
I have a screened in porch and it’s open all day along with the windows in winter, A/C set to fan only. Close the porch/windows at night but no heat. It’s pretty cold in the morning but I’ll take the $50 electric bill lol
Just to chime in, here in Israel I’ve never seen an air conditioner without a heating mode. “Heat pump” isn’t ever talked about because it’s a bog-standard feature of every air conditioner on the market. It’s just “putting the AC in heat mode”.
Our summers are brutal (especially in recent years, fml with climate change) but winters aren’t nearly as cold as European or American, so we don’t really have much call for a whole dedicated heating system. I’m guessing this is why ACs just add heating since it barely affects manufacturing but is a massive selling point (or glaring omission) for the roughly 100% of houses that don’t have other heating solutions.
It’s pretty ironic that we ended up with the most efficient heating solution being ubiquitous specifically because we barely need heating.
Of course, a ton of people (including my mom) still choose to use electric space heaters in the winter. I prefer AC but I can’t deny that the air feels different so it’s a valid preference, if somewhat wasteful. Not as bad as gas or fire though.
Interesting, it never occurred to me that that might be the case. What other methods are there (besides the obvious resistive heating), and is there some way to check what method my AC uses?
I still would assume all new AC units here function as heat pumps, isn’t it just the cheapest solution to manufacture? Keep in mind that it never goes below freezing so there’s no need to deal with frost and ice.
Also depends on what type of heat you use
I have a heat pump, so my air conditioner is my heater, heat pumps are basically just an AC running in reverse.
In general, my wife and I don’t mind it being cold, we’re willing to let the temperature in our house get down to about the mid-low 50s (F, obviously) in the winter, so we do end up using a lot less electricity in the winter. But if we tried to keep our house at a warmer temperature that most people would find comfortable, it would probably be about the same.
Our gas bill over winters is over $200/month (AUD), due to our gas central heater
Comparatively, our three split-system ACs (2 bedrooms, main living area) over summer at most cost us ~$50/month.
Yet even still, trying to convince the missus that we’re better off running the split-systems in heater-mode would be more efficient and cost-effective is an uphill struggle.
Yeah I live in Florida. Our winters it might get close to freezing, some days. Maybe a little under overnight.
I have a screened in porch and it’s open all day along with the windows in winter, A/C set to fan only. Close the porch/windows at night but no heat. It’s pretty cold in the morning but I’ll take the $50 electric bill lol
Just to chime in, here in Israel I’ve never seen an air conditioner without a heating mode. “Heat pump” isn’t ever talked about because it’s a bog-standard feature of every air conditioner on the market. It’s just “putting the AC in heat mode”.
Our summers are brutal (especially in recent years, fml with climate change) but winters aren’t nearly as cold as European or American, so we don’t really have much call for a whole dedicated heating system. I’m guessing this is why ACs just add heating since it barely affects manufacturing but is a massive selling point (or glaring omission) for the roughly 100% of houses that don’t have other heating solutions.
It’s pretty ironic that we ended up with the most efficient heating solution being ubiquitous specifically because we barely need heating.
Of course, a ton of people (including my mom) still choose to use electric space heaters in the winter. I prefer AC but I can’t deny that the air feels different so it’s a valid preference, if somewhat wasteful. Not as bad as gas or fire though.
A Heat Pump isn’t just a “bog-standard” feature especially if it’s older than 10 years old.
There are many ways Central Air can heat the air in a home. A Heat Pump is only one of them.
Interesting, it never occurred to me that that might be the case. What other methods are there (besides the obvious resistive heating), and is there some way to check what method my AC uses?
I still would assume all new AC units here function as heat pumps, isn’t it just the cheapest solution to manufacture? Keep in mind that it never goes below freezing so there’s no need to deal with frost and ice.