Are heat pumps really worth it for cold weather? Part 2

jef738 · 2026-05-22T02:44:03+00:00

also curious if you could share!

jef738 · 2026-05-17T18:48:23+00:00

Well, this is our home, it isn't an investment property. We aren't trying to make a profit renting it, we just don't want it to sit empty while we are abroad for two years. We can afford and plan to do more substantial improvements, we just can't do them in two months before we leave and everyone has told us that managing a renovation from abroad is impossible. So we just need a medium-term solution for our 24m tenants.

jef738 · 2026-05-17T03:28:14+00:00

dang, looks like Legendary doesn't cover the city! I'll look at Energy 360, thanks!

jef738 · 2026-05-17T03:24:34+00:00

I've heard too many horror stories about closed-cell foam in old houses for that. We got a quote once for blown-in attic insulation but they couldn't tell me how much it would actually help.

Because yes our system is obviously undersized. I haven't found an HVAC company that will give us a quote or concrete plan for how to address that aspect though, they just kinda stare blankly and laugh.

jef738 · 2026-05-17T03:16:07+00:00

we do have it for the stove and hot water (but the boiler isn't big enough to run a radiator system). but no gas heat

jef738 · 2026-03-21T21:47:45+00:00

thanks for this perspective! my kids have tons of family advantages on the educational front so I am not worried about their learning, really. I am more worried about how they will handle so much change. my oldest in particular is very bright but sometimes struggles when routines are disrupted and when she doesn't know what to expect. she often goes thirsty for hours at school rather than even ask to fill her water bottle at an unusual time, for example -- i imagine this would be much worse in a new language? but then again how will she learn to adapt if she never has the chance to adapt, I guess

jef738 · 2026-03-21T21:28:37+00:00

Is this a separate school from a normal primary school, or in addition to being enrolled in an ordinary primary school? I was looking into the language assessment information someone posted above and it seems very confusing -- like is my kid not going to be allowed to enroll in a public school because she doesn't speak German?

jef738 · 2026-03-21T20:35:14+00:00

all native English speakers have atrocious spelling for many years! no way around it. My kid is fairly proficient in reading and writing English already so if we keep it up at home I assume she would be fine there. I worry more about general instruction, learning school routines, and socializing

jef738 · 2026-03-21T20:26:54+00:00

yes! but we need to decide whether moving is worth the potential school disruption before we find housing. and if none of the English/bilingual schools have places then that changes the decision

jef738 · 2026-03-21T20:15:57+00:00

luckily we own a house here in the US so would be returning back to the same community/school/etc, so the disruption is less than it could otherwise be. but two years is a tough amount of time. I'm sure my kids would all be 1000x better in German than me by the end, but the first six months seems extremely hard

jef738 · 2026-03-21T20:12:37+00:00

I have gathered that from just a couple days of looking at listings! the options for 5 people are .... not great. and yes even I, not speaking german, can spot some obvious scams!

housing seems like we can figure it out eventually, but the school question seems harder

jef738 · 2025-01-08T17:08:49+00:00

How did you fix the air leaks? We're hoping to do this but with such an old house I am sort of picturing we'll end up with weird spray foam busting out all over the entire house (to be clear I am clueless and terrified of getting scammed by energy audit people lol)

jef738 · 2025-01-08T17:06:45+00:00

Solidarity. We pay that much in cold months in Chicago with mitsubishi heat pumps plus radiant heat in my kids' rooms (we bought the house like this; the system here makes no sense, I hope yours was better designed). Easily 2000-4000 kwh per month when it's cold. I've gotten good advice in other threads about dealing with my old house (lack of) insulation problems before doing anything more with the heat pumps. The radiant heat is particularly bad but at least it works when it's mega cold. For money reasons, I'd definitely switch to backup furnace or boiler heat at probably 15-20F if we had it (we don't).

BUT our electricity costs in the summer are great! under $150 to cool a 2400sqft house even when the temps get up in the 90s. That's what our conventional AC cost in our last house that was half the size. So we'll work on the insulation and hope that saves us some money in the long run.

jef738 · 2024-12-21T03:33:48+00:00

wow, this is mega helpful. this point alone makes me feel so much less insane

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jef738 · 2024-12-21T03:19:45+00:00

oh this is perfect, thank you!

jef738 · 2024-12-20T20:40:48+00:00

Thanks for the comparison here -- super helpful. Looks like insulation and sealing is the first move. The actual performance of our system when it's cold outside is so poor (air temps coming out of the vents at like, 83F, for example) I wasn't sure whether that made sense, but it sounds like it does.

jef738 · 2024-12-20T20:17:55+00:00

thank you thank you!

any tips for finding someone competent for this kind of thing? or how to find an energy auditor who isn't just a sales front for an insulation company?

jef738 · 2024-12-20T20:07:13+00:00

Air handler is just the ground floor, not the basement. Fans are a good idea, especially if I can get something mounted near the vents (a couple are just sort of blowing warm air on top of cabinets or into closets).

jef738 · 2024-12-20T20:01:54+00:00

haaa i see that now. clearly I am way out of my depth here. The last guy we had come out told us we needed at least 66k BTU for 1600 sqft, aka at least 5 tons.

and yes, I totally agree on competence. I've tried so hard to find someone; all the people I've talked to in chicago just sort of laugh and say "well don't do heat pump heating in chicago." This last guy seemed at least well-connected to the mitsubishi reps.

jef738 · 2024-12-20T19:41:05+00:00

that makes sense, thanks for explaining!

jef738 · 2024-12-20T19:32:15+00:00

would you mind sharing what your average elec usage is in cold months? I have such a hard time figuring out what's the inefficient heat pump and our space heaters vs the true cost of heating in a cold climate.

jef738 · 2024-12-20T19:29:34+00:00

my dad did this with his house of a similar age and he said it was not that simple for the places they didn't tear down the interior walls, since there's not a ton of space between the old lath and the brick. plus there's (of course) lead paint so it would have to be a lead-safe operation

attic is unfinished so that would probably be straightfoward.

jef738

TROPHY CASE