A couple of years ago, my husband and I retired from our jobs and headed south.
We’d lived our entire lives in the northeast.
We were tired of the extremely long and cold winters. We’d had enough of blizzard conditions, freezing rain, feet of snow accumulation and dangerous wind chills. Our goal was to move far enough south that we’d never need snow boots, wool coats, ice scrapers or snow shovels again. We didn’t want to travel so far south that we’d have year-round concerns with heat and humidity. When we began touring different houses for sale, we noticed that many were equipped with heat pumps. The real estate agent made sure to point this out as a major asset of the property. Since my husband and I had never heard of a heat pump before, we weren’t overly impressed. I then did some research and learned that this type of unit is quite expensive to purchase and install. A single system provides both heating and cooling capacity. A heat pump operates exactly like a central air conditioner in the summer. They tend to be especially effective at dehumidifying. When the weather cools off, the system reverses the flow of refrigerant, draws ambient heat from the outside air and transfers it inside. The operation of a heat pump is wonderfully environmentally friendly, safe, clean, quiet and energy efficient. We ended up buying a house with a heat pump, and we are very happy with it. We are delighted that the outdoor temperature never drops below freezing. The heat pump manages a very consistent and ideal comfort all year round.