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Comment by alistairSH | Hacker News Reader

Is the problem up-front cost on the heat pump (vs pure AC)?

I have a friend remodeling a home in Seattle right now and they’re installing a heat pump in the extension/basement. Seems like a no-brainer given the relatively mild highs and lows. The original house had no AC and radiators of some sort (1920s build, maybe).

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Seattle is a great place for a heat pump. Depending on where you are, and your tree cover, most summer days are fine with windows open, but heat waves are icky. Otoh, below freezing is pretty rare, so most of the time, you'll be in the efficiency zone; on the big snow days, it's useful to move snow away from your outside unit to keep it working as well as it can in those conditions. Wall mounted units, common with mini-splits, probably don't have to worry about that.

Utility natural gas is available in some places in the region, but not everywhere... Heating with propane would be pretty expensive, IMHO.

Yeah, they were fine without AC for years. But, with a kid on the way, they wanted more space, and liked their neighborhood enough to remodel vs move. Outside of the remodel, probably wouldn’t make sene to install AC/heat-pump, but once you’re spending hundreds of thousands, it’s a drop in the bucket and making a heatpump made sense.

I'd love AC, but I'd only need it for a couple weeks a year in the bay area.

And I have PG&E so the economics of a heat pump don't pencil out. Gas heating is still cheaper than a heat pump because electricity rates are out of control. (Gas isn't cheap either but still cheaper)

California is doing everything it can to eliminate natural gas heating except for make the alternatives more affordable. PG&E and Socal Edison are basically given a bank check to keep raising rates by the oversight board. (Doesn't help that they are also burning down cities)

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