Heat pumps do NOT work in areas where the humidity is high and the temperature goes regularly below freezing. The reason is that the evaporator (outside) freezes up quickly and must be defrosted over and over again. Defrosting costs money and wastes LOTS of energy.

Heat pumps are for dry, moderate climates...or even dry COLD climates, but not moist, cold climates. That's why they are so rarely used in the Northeast.

N.B. Jersey City's electicity bills went up 50% in the last year to a whopping $.18/Kwhr...not competetive with gas or oil as a heat source no matter WHAT system.

P.S. We have junky through the wall heat pump systems at Newport...once the temperature goes below 40 degrees they swwitch to resistance heating, i.e, THROWING your heating dollar away.

we have 4 of these units in our building. the size reccomended for a 1 br apt costs about 5-7k to put in (this supplies heat and hot water without a tank). In our experience they have been very tempermental and require yearly repairs. they seem much more efficient though and take up little space.

If you are going to use natural gas for your heat anyway (as it sound like you would do with a gas heat pump) and you have a separate cooling system, why not just get a gas furnace? Heating costs will probably still be lower than with a heat pump-based solution, and you will have better heating.

Having used an electric heat pump in the past, I was always unhappy with it (it never got warm fast enough). The central gas furnace I have now is great and I would not choose any other heating system if it is a viable option (e.g., if you will use a separate A/C system for cooling).

Heat pumps are always a compromise because the same system is used for cooling and heating. It seems like the gas-fired kind is better since it will use less electricity during the summer but since it's still a heat pump I'm not sure if it will heat as well as a boiler or a furnace.

The ancient oil boiler in our 8 unit condo needs to be replaced and we are exploring the options.

Electric heat pumps have been around since the 80s and don't tend to work well in places with sustained cold such as JC. But there seems to be some buzz about gas fired heat pumps.

I know oil prices are low now and I guess a lot depends on future prices (personally I think they're going to go up susbstantially) but I was wondering if anyone has strong opinions for or against gas fired heat pumps?

Cheers - Johnny