Who has a heat pump?

[miss_chance]

Totient and I are looking to replace our quarter-century old oil furnace with a modern system. The buzz-words for the thing we're thinking of getting include:

Mini-split (small units in each room, connecting to a single heating unit outside),
Multi-zone (separate controls for each unit),
Ceiling Cassette (vs wall-based), and
"Hyper Heat" or something

Comments

[earthling177]

I don't have one but know a bunch of people who do in Brazil, where such systems are common. Thing is, it doesn't get that cold in Brazil. One thing I'll warn you about, is that mini-split systems vary by a lot, the most common ones have outside units that are just as loud as any central A/C would be. And a lot of heat pump systems, mini-split or not, annoy a least some people because they have a defrost cycle that switches the system to A/C mode every once in a while to remove the ice from the outside unit -- some of them turn on the electric resistance backup heat during that period, which increases the cost, some of them don't and pump cold air into the rooms during the defrost cycle. Just one of the things to ask about while shopping