The heat pump is a very interesting concept. I would love to learn more about it.
From what I was described, a heat pump is pretty much the reverse of air conditioning. It involved refrigerant to make it work.
With that said, it's a cheezy way to heat the air. Not very efficient unless you live in Florida IMO. When I lived in North Carolina, two of the houses I lived in were heat pump equipped. Even though NC has mild winters (typically in the 20's, occasionally gets down to the teens), the heat pump really didn't keep my house all that toasty. Plus the coils on the condenser have a tendency to ice over and then you have to turn on the aux heat or go out and chip off all the ice.
Maybe it's because I grew up in Indiana where we had an oil furnace in our home which did a really good job of keeping the house toasty, albeit the need to repaint the walls every few years. We eventually switched to gas and it did a good job too. Only other thing that might be better would be a wood burning stove, but that requires tending to all the time, but damned if you'd be cold. So heat pumps suck, no thanks. I hope to never have another home with one. Give me a real furnace any day.
I do agree winter can be a bummer though but it can also be fun. Granted all the car shows quit and it's not really the weather to bring your GN or whatever classic car you own, out to drive.....but when the snow hits, and if you have a 4X4 (like anyone in the midwest should have IMO), it's fun to go out snow busting. But the other day having to shovel snow out of my drive in the cold (while I was sick no less) had me thinking "Why in the hell am I dealing with this **** instead of being somewhere warmer?" Well as mentioned I did grow up in Indiana so I'm almost used to it, then I spent 8.5 years living in NC where the snow (which was seldom) was almost like a treat in some aspects, but at least it wasn't as cold as it has been here in Missouri where I've been almost 3 years now....just last week it was balls shattering cold....like 4 above in the morning. Damn that's c-c-c-cold! But yesterday it was like 48 outside and that's actually not bad. I dunno maybe I need to move back down south, especially with all the epistaxis I've had to deal with this fall/winter...I probably need a warmer more humid climate.