Seer Ratings For Heat: Pumps [repack]

Their "efficient" system was now glowing red-hot electric coils—the equivalent of running a dozen toasters 24/7. The bill arrived: . Mark nearly choked on his coffee.

The Martin’s 22 SEER unit had a terrible (Heating Seasonal Performance Factor)—only 8.2. It was a cooling machine that could sort-of heat. For Vermont winters, they needed a cold-climate heat pump with an HSPF above 10 and a low-temperature rating. SEER had nothing to do with it. Act III: The Neighbor’s Counter-Story Across the street lived the Chens. They’d installed a heat pump the same week. Their unit was only 18 SEER —four points lower than Mark’s. seer ratings for heat pumps

At 25°F, the air from the vents turned tepid—not cold, but not the toasty blast they expected from their old oil furnace. At 15°F, the unit started running constantly. At 5°F, it simply stopped heating effectively and switched to emergency electric resistance heat. Their "efficient" system was now glowing red-hot electric

Logline: When the Martins moved into their drafty Vermont colonial, they thought a high-SEER heat pump was the ultimate flex. But as winter descended, they learned the hard way that not all efficiency ratings are created equal. Act I: The Summer of the Big Number Mark and Lisa Martin were tired of window AC units roaring in every bedroom. Their HVAC contractor, a smooth talker named Dave, pitched a solution: a new ductless heat pump system with a SEER rating of 22 . The Martin’s 22 SEER unit had a terrible

He now tells neighbors: “SEER is a love letter to summer. But winter doesn’t read love letters—it reads HSPF.”

is a measure of cooling output divided by electric input over a typical summer. Higher SEER (16–20+) is great for hot climates like Florida or Texas.

The comment section was a graveyard of warnings they ignored. One friend wrote: “Wait til January.” January arrived with a polar vortex. The thermostat read 28°F outside. The heat pump, which worked so beautifully in summer, began to struggle.