One resident of Cleveland, Ohio, had an upsetting experience with a heat pump when they moved into a new home and tried out this system for the first time.
They posted about their experience in the r/hvacadvice subreddit. “Do heat pumps really just suck this bad?” they wondered.
According to the original poster, they had spent part of the winter in a home with both a heat pump and a fireplace. To stay warm, they had to run both heat sources simultaneously, resulting in electric bills over $600. They also complained about their heat pump blowing cold air, which is not in line with what a properly functioning unit would do when in heating mode (heat pumps can switch to air-conditioning mode to cool a home when it’s hot outside as well).
While upsetting, the original poster’s experience is not the norm. Heat pumps are generally effective at keeping homes warm in the winter, and they actually outperform traditional heating options in terms of energy efficiency by moving existing heat rather than purely creating their own heat, not to mention the cost-effectiveness of having one system for both heating and cooling. That’s on top of the money that you save by receiving rebates and incentives at installation time, as well as the energy savings over the lifespan of the unit.
This Redditor’s experience was so far outside the norm that commenters were certain something had to be wrong. “Nope, this is a case of landlords sucking,” said one commenter. “Mine is keeping my entire house comfortable at 72F using way less energy and it is 7F outside. They hired some hacks and got what they paid for.”
Other commenters suggested the issue was a cheap, underpowered heat pump, or poor insulation on the home itself. The common factor: a developer or landlord cutting costs, not a problem inherent to heat pumps themselves. With a heat pump that is installed correctly and is the right size for a well-built home, you’ll stay perfectly toasty.
Based on the description, it’s also possible the unit was set to cooling mode and competing with the fireplace rather than helping the fireplace to heat the home. As with most HVAC systems, the controls for the unit may enable the user to lock the settings into one or the other to prevent unnecessary heating in the summer or cooling in the winter if temperatures were to drop slightly across a threshold.
If you’re interested in installing a heat pump, check out EnergySage’s Heat Pump Marketplace to find vetted local installers and compare quotes.
In addition to visiting EnergySage for heat pumps, you can also save on your energy bill by using this service to find solar panel installers in your area. Its solar quotes comparison tool can help the average homeowner save almost $10,000 on solar panel installation.
However, many of those incentives are vanishing at the end of 2025, so it’s a good idea to get started soon if you want to make sure that your system is installed in time.
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