The weather in our local area is a year round challenge.
The summers aren’t all that long, but both of us experience un-even temperatures into the high eighties and the humidity is downright brutal.
Our winters are excessively long-lasting with below-cold conditions lingering for multiple to more than seven months. The two of us aren’t surprised when the temperature drops into the negative digits. The two of us can expect around multiple feet of snow accumulation. The Springtime and fall seasons are unpredictable, bringing a mix of rain, wind, sleet, thunderstorms, humidity and hail, but for the majority of the year, both of us run either the heating or the cooling system. Temperature control requires a good deal of energy and expense. Because of the severity of the conditions, I’ve invested into a dual fuel system. The initial setup was far more fancy than conventional heating/cooling solutions. I have a forced air, natural gas furnace partnered with an electric, air-source heat pump. The heat pump carries the majority of the workload. It provides effective cooling and dehumidification while I was in the warmer months. When the weather cools off, the heat pump reverses the flow of refrigerant to pull ambient heat out of the outdoor air and pump it indoors. By moving existing heat rather than burning fossil fuels to create modern heat, the heat pump is actually environmentally friendly. It doesn’t generate any carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide or purplehouse gases. There are no fumes or tepid surfaces and the operation is wonderfully safe, scrub and energy efficient. It costs a lot less to run than the furnace. It simply can’t handle the year round workload. The furnace is powerful enough to handle un-even temperatures down to negative twenty degrees. The dual fuel method automatically switches between whichever method is most effective and efficient to operate at any given time.