Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off.
I’ve been struggling with high gas and electric bills since I moved into my house three years ago. A large portion of those bills goes for heating our home in the winter and cooling it in the summer. Our current traditional air conditioning unit and gas furnace is about ten years old, and by today’s standards is not very efficient. It struggles to keep our home toasty in the winter and cool in the summer. And twice last summer, during some 100+ degree heat waves, our air conditioning unit crapped out on us, requiring an expensive emergency service call and parts replacements.
So rather than continuing to deal with an old, inefficient, prone to failure HVAC system, I decided to upgrade to a highly efficient, all electric heat pump system. Installation is scheduled to start tomorrow and to take three days, maybe four if the installation crew runs into any unanticipated problems.
That, however, is not my peeve. My peeve is that first thing tomorrow, the installation crew will be removing my gas furnace. Thus, it probably won’t be until Thursday, at best, before our newly installed heat pump will start keeping our house warm. Hence, we will have no heat in our home for the next three to four days. And here’s our local forecast for that period:
We are going to be freezing our asses off with no heat once they turn off the gas and remove our furnace. Brrr.
I ordered two electric space heaters from Amazon that should be delivered today. One for the family room and the other for our bedroom. But how well will two space heaters keep us warm until our new heat pump starts warming our home?
So, in addition to living in the chaos of a construction zone for the next three to four days, we’ll also be experiencing what it’s like to live inside a refrigerator. I’m expecting frostbite on my fingers and toes.
Okay, I’m done with this peeve. Hopefully, for Paula’s TGIF on Friday, I’ll be able to post about how my home is nice and toasty again.
This, That, and the Other 
Oh man, that sucks. Blankets and hot cocoa!
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I’m a little peeved that I occasionally think of peeves during the week, then forget them by Monday 🤨
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You need to write then down when you thin of them.
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Gloves, two. The inner lining cotton, wool or leather (with fur lining if leather) outer. Double layer socks and pants (cotton next to skin, wool/gabardine(or long coat) outer), singlets, t-shirt, shirt, jumper. Scarf, one for the neck, one for the head, and one for the back. A throw-blanket for sitting down, doubled over (or the dog curled up next to you – they’re great heaters).
I’d also suggest, for the 2-3 days of bitter cold, something over the ears, either a full-face balaclava or ear-muffs.
Do you get the impression I don’t like cold? I hate it, but have lived several places where it was not only cold, but there was no electricity (or the storms blew it out all the time), and no fireplace. The only times in my life I allowed the dog to sleep on the bed.
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All good suggestions. I’ve got gloves, a knit cap to wear on my head that I can pull down over my ears, sweat pants and hooded sweatshirts. And the dog! 😉
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Well Fandango, that sucks!
Come to Ireland, its only 2 degrees C here! Its cold cold cold!
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Check into a nice hotel for a few days.
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I prefer electric blankets to space heaters at night. Good luck – I hope it all goes smoothly!
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Thanks. Me too!
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I hope you are happy with your heat pump … I absolutely despise them! There’s no toasty warm unless you crank it up to “emergent heat” which nearly triples your bill if left on that setting very long. Heat pumps were devised to serve those in moderate to warm climates.
Air-source heat pumps transfer heat between indoor air and outdoor air Heat pumps do not operate as efficiently when temperatures drop to between 25 and 40 degrees Fahrenheit for most systems. A heat pump works best when the temperature is above 40. Once outdoor temperatures drop to 40 degrees, heat pumps start losing efficiency, and they consume more energy to do their jobs.
Maybe the newest ones are better! Good luck!! ❤️
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Our temperatures here in the San Francisco Bay Area don’t normally get into the low 30s that often, although this year has been different. Climate change? The good news, though, is that my wife prefers to keep the thermostat set to cooler temperatures anyway.
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I appreciate this information as I am looking at replacing and expanding a full (heating and cooling) HVAC system for an old home.
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Space heaters are quite effective so you should be good for the interim period
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I hope so!
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We use them all the time.
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That’s a heat wave😂😂
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
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Compared to Wyoming, definitely.
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Another 10 cm (approx. 4.5″) of snow today followed by freezing rain all night… Right about now, I would take your temperatures in a heartbeat!!!
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I’m curious to know how the heat pump works out. Our boiler is just 2 years old and it isn’t electric. Not that oil is any cheaper than electricity, though for this climate, ANY heat using electricity seems insane. Between regular electric use, electric cars recharging AND trying to convert the world BACK to electric heat? You figure the grids are going to explode or collapse? Bet they will. They are barely keeping up now.
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I’ve been told that when temps are down in thirties,my electric bill for heating will likely go up because the heat pump will be continuously on, while having replaced my gas furnaces with electric heat pump air handlers, my gas bill will go down significantly. Savings will be most pronounced during the hot summer months because the heat pump is so much more efficient than my old AC unit. And since I am thinking about going solar in a few years, an all electric heat pump configuration will make that transition much smoother.
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I’m impressed that you are still making long term commitments to improving your home. We are still trying to dig out from replacing the bathroom the boiler, the windows, the gutters, the hot water heater. There’s more. I’m just losing track. But that’s it. NOW I have to fix my teeth, Garry needs a new cochlear device and hearing aid. That’s thousands of dollars, but there’s little point is fixing the house without fixing US.
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Long term plans are subject to change based upon the vagaries of short term circumstances. So who really knows if our home will actually go solar?
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We could, but then we’d also have to put up a new roof. The one we have is 23 years old. It’s in good shape, but it’s not ready to accept the weight of solar panels. And I am NOT convinced that heat pumps in this climate will save us money. I think they might cost us money instead. I think it’s madness to live in this area and use electric heat. It’s TOO COLD. And electricity is expensive. Very.
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Yes, I don’t think a heat pump would be good in your climate.
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Living in the midwest the first thought I have about no heat – frozen pipes. Hope you survived alright!
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