~I don't like gas heat cause it dries the air so bad.
I'm gonna debate you on that one! *LOL* Prove it!
GadgetGary has a heat-pump, in Connecticut, in an all-electric house. It works just fine and defrosts just fine.
He used an older air handler and (refrigeration) coil with a new outdoor unit, and the old refrigeration lines. No problems for years. Last summer the automatic thermostatic expansion valve quit and it took us about half a dozen guys to look at it. None knew how it worked. Finally a "commercial" system guy came out (one who knew about TEV (Thermostatic Expansion Valves) and replaced the head of the valve and sensor bulb and tube...it was so easy I could have done it myself. But who knew?
My pont is, in Connecticut a heat-pump is a foreign and rare beast and HVAC people FEAR it! I hovered over the fools and watched everything they did. A few admitted they know A/C's but not heat-pumps. Bye-bye they went!
Lesson learned: Me likey two independent systems or good back-ups. I got Gary's basment electric forced-air wall-heater up and running after replacing the circuit-breakers and adding a wall-thermostat. MAy not be needed but it comforts me to know it's there for an emergency.
Heat-pumps are interesting but seen as complicated. Remember guys, there are electric strip-heater cut-out controls that prevent electric resistance coil heating from turning on except during defrost or tempertures outdoors of below ___*F. I added a swich in series with the "call for electirc heat" wire coming off the thermostat. In this way the system can call for eelctic heat during defrosting, but not at any other time without manual intervention. His system is sized larger than his neighbors in that he has a fully finished walk-out basement that is used as living space, so he doesn't need electric back-up until about 10*F outside or below.
