REGIONAL— Come April, residents here in the North Country are starting to add up the damage from the heating season. Depending on the age and the type of fuel used by your heating system, the bills can really add up in a typical northern Minnesota winter.
One way to really rein in the cost of heating your home is by replacing your old furnace with an air-sourced heat pump.
You may have heard that air-source heat pumps can’t adequately heat your home in northern Minnesota— and that once was true. But times have changed, according to Ron Hardy, a longtime service technician with Lake Country Power.
While homeowners in Lake Country Power’s service territory were sometimes disappointed with heat pumps when they first hit the market in the 1970s and 80s, Hardy said technological advances now allow heat pumps to continue to operate effectively even when the temperature dips into the teens below zero.
We all know it frequently gets a lot colder than that in our region, but even in the coldest temperatures, heat pumps can still produce heat, although not as efficiently as they can during milder weather. During those periods, homeowners can rely on other options, such as baseboard heat, or an electric plenum heater that will give a boost to a heat pump in the coldest weather.
Those occasional assists help boost the comfort factor for homeowners, notes Hardy. “When it’s really cold the forced air produced by the heat pump may only be 85 degrees, and that doesn’t necessarily feel warm against your 98-degree skin,” he said. But an electric plenum heater, which can easily be installed along with a heat pump, can kick in when the thermometer drops well below zero and raise the temperature of the air in your ductwork to a more cozy-feeling temperature.

Savings really add up
Heat pumps are the most efficient during the shoulder seasons here in the North Country, when even the coldest temperatures are typically above zero. “That’s their sweet spot,” said Hardy, when a heat pump can easily heat your entire home.
Heat pumps don’t generate heat by burning a fuel. They use freon like a refrigerator or air conditioner, but in reverse, so they produce heat by using electricity to compress freon, which generates the heat, which is distributed as a fan blows air over hot coils. The efficiency of the system is astonishing. Hardy notes that an older style fuel oil furnace might only be 65-70 percent efficient as much of the heat produced by burning the fuel oil goes up the chimney. You spend a dollar on fuel oil and you maybe get 70 cents worth of heat,” he said.
Even a high-efficiency propane furnace tops out at about 95 percent efficient, or about 95 cents for every dollar you spend on heating fuel. “But heat pumps at their peak generate about $2.50 worth of heat for every dollar in electricity. “They’re 250 percent efficient,” said Hardy. “They can really save a lot of money on your utility bills.”
Even at regular electrical rates, a heat pump can save you plenty of money. But Hardy notes that most utilities offer cheaper dual fuel rates that allow them to cut off power to your heat pump when demand gets high. That means you need another source of heat for those occasions, but the extra savings can help you save even more money.

Mini-splits are popular
Heat pumps can come in two types, ducted or ductless. A ducted heat pump is designed for a forced air system that typically takes advantage of existing ductwork to distribute heat throughout the house. But heat pumps don’t operate like a traditional furnace. Rather than distributing hot air, in the range of 120 degrees, throughout the house, a heat pump pushes merely warm air, which means heat pumps need to push more air to provide the same amount of total heating. That means you’ll need to confirm that your existing ductwork has the needed capacity. Many houses in our region don’t have adequate ductwork, which can make installing a ducted heat pump a challenge in an existing home.
That’s why many people are turning to ductless heat pump systems known as “mini-splits,” which connect an outside heat pump to what are essentially heating or cooling registers that mount on the wall inside the house.
Yes, heat pumps not only heat… they provide cooling in the summer months with the mere flick of a switch, so you’re getting both a highly efficient heating system and a highly efficient air conditioner.
“Mini-splits are definitely the most popular type of heat pump being installed in the area,” said Scott Twining, who is also a technician with Lake Country Power.
While most people will turn to a professional installer, the installation of a mini-split is straightforward enough that it can be a DIY project for a capable homeowner. They generally require a 240-volt electrical connection (120-volt models are available but they aren’t as efficient) to the main unit that sits just outside the house. From there, you’ll be running refrigerant and electrical lines to the individual registers (or “heads”) located in strategic locations within your house.
A system that includes two or three heads is likely to run somewhere in the vicinity of $7,000-$9,000 according to local contractors. While most contractors are still replacing traditional furnaces with newer versions of the same thing, mini-splits have become increasingly popular, particularly as they’ve become more efficient at cold temperatures.
While most of us have gotten by without air conditioning in northern Minnesota, increasing humidity in recent years has made summers not as comfortable in northern Minnesota as they once were.

The right time to switch?
You might think the time to switch to a heat pump is when your old furnace needs replacement. But Hardy says when you’re looking to add or replace an air conditioner is an even better time, since heat pumps not only heat in the winter, they air condition in the summer. “If your old A/C unit dies, your first choice for replacement should be a heat pump,” says Hardy.
While some northern Minnesota HVAC contractors remain skeptical of the effectiveness of heat pumps during the depths of a Minnesota winter, Hardy said they can work very effectively, particularly with a backup or supplemental source of heat for the coldest days.
Hardy recommends that homeowners be more persistent if their local contractor is dismissive of heat pumps here in the North Country. “The savings are very real,” he said.
While the cost of installing an air source heat pump involves a significant up front cost, utilities like Lake Country Power offer substantial rebates that can help cover some of the cost. The size of those rebates depends on the size and efficiency rating of your heat pump and the final cost can vary depending on any special circumstances with your house.
The federal government, under the Inflation Reduction Act, has also enacted a 30 percent tax credit, up to $2,000 annually, for installing a heat pump, which can help speed the payback of making the switch.
A state program that is supposed to offer up to $4,000 in rebates for installing a heat pump has yet be opened for applications.