Yeah. And being able to have a thermostat is a huge bonus. One problem we ran into a few times was the propane delivery truck could not get to the house. Even with chains on.
So I doubled our capacity and got another 500 gallone tank to get us through the winter. They hooked them up in series.
That’s all water under the bridge now. Yesterday at the new house our PV system made 107% of the power we use. I’m watching it closely.
The solar estimater figured out how many panels/moduals we needed. I said ‘Add three more’. We seem to be good. Donno what electric cars will do though. That’s gonna be a huge drain.
Even if the heat pump was no good below 32F, it may be worth it for heating when it is 33 to 60F outside. Though they can work when it is colder than 32F – obviously less efficient the colder it gets. But for every joule they consume, they can provide 3 (or more) joules of heat.
Obvious considerations are the cost of the unit and the cost of electricity and propane (or other heat source). Note that heat pumps are also air conditioners, so don’t look at raw cost, look at the extra cost vs a one way air conditioner (assuming you want an air conditioner – may not be needed many days depending on lake effect)
Although at present days hot enough for air conditioners might be seen as rare, older folks aren’t as heat tolerant and changing climate might increase the number of those days.
Are you sure about this? My impression is that old people both want higher temperatures in the winter (72 degrees in the house, but they complain about their feet being cold) and tolerate higher heat in the summer (no need to turn on the air conditioner until it reaches 80 degrees).
Perhaps it’s more accurate to say older folks are less tolerant to temperature extremes in general. There is some individual variability. In my case my heat tolerance is ebbing faster than my cold tolerance, but in truth I don’t do as well in either extreme as I did 30 years ago.
I do, however, often have the remains of the back hall woodpile and even some in the room with the stove still sitting there from the last fire in the spring till the first few in the fall; partly because I don’t know which is going to be the last fire in the spring and by the time that becomes clear I’m way too busy to be bothered schlepping it back outside when I’d just have to eventually bring it back in again, and partly because I remember a year with a cold wet August and in case the power goes out I’m always happier with at least a little dry wood in the house. And I’ve still never had a problem; though I suppose if an occasional bug moved in from the woodpile it might get missed among all the other critters that try to get into an old farmhouse in the summer.
Human homes are generally protective against both weather and somewhat against predators, and often have what critters would consider abundant food. Sometimes easily obtained once they’re inside.
If you live in the woods or comparable wild region critters outside winding up inside is an on-going situation you have to guard against and/or deal with.
Having dealt with a wild raccoon ransacking my kitchen at one point arthropods in the woodpile are not the worst thing imaginable.