My house is heated with an oil fired boiler and baseboard radiation. My boiler is getting on there and people tell me to convert a heat pump. I can't see anything on the web which would seem to do the job. Are there any heat pumps that will basically replace the boiler and work with the existing baseboard radiation. I am concerned that the heat pumps can produce water at 120 degrees the current boiler heats the water to 180 degrees and radiation baseboard is sized accordingly.

You probably will want to move this thread to the general forum. It will get noticed more there and by people who might be able to answer your question(s). This one is for all out "lunacy", name calling, and general silliness.

I live in Central Oregon on the east side of the Cascade mountains at 4300 Ft..above sea level in a heavily wooded area, it gets cold here in the winters and their is no natural gas so your choices on heating are Propane gas, electric with a heat pump, wood stoves, fireplaces or pellet stoves.
We bought this house in 2004, it was built in 1986. it is all eclectic and had a heat pump, air condition system in it that didn't work very well along with a great first generation pellet stove that work excellent for heating
We had to replace the electric heat pump system the next year and found out the hard way they don't work worth a hoot when the outside air temps get below freezing, 32F The old pellet stove work great until it broke down and we couldn't get parts to fix it so we had to replace it with new modern one, it works good also .
We are having a early cold winter and it looks like I will probably use two tons of pellets this winter, they cost right at $360.00 a ton delivered and last around six weeks under normal winter weather here
I probably jinx myself now and will probably need to buy another ton later this winter

Looking online what I found...



The question is, are you planning on using the heat pump to heat the base board radiation alone?

Were you looking to use it for summer A/C also????
Normally that's done using forced air so duct work is required.

I live in Texas where we have fairly mild winters most of the time. When it does get cold, the wind makes it worse. I have a small living quarters in my shop that uses a heat pump because I have no gas to the shop. I don’t like heat pumps because it works way to hard to pull heat out of the cold winter air to heat your house. The colder it gets, the harder it works. Then the electric takes over. Since the electricity rates have tripled, heating with electricity is going to be very expensive. I don’t know anything about a boiler system but a heat pump does not produce hot water. It makes heat by air blowing over the hot Freon in the coils.

Heat pumps were the rage in ND 40 years ago. But as Cab mentioned, when the ambient temperature drops the coefficient of performance goes in the toilet and the backup electrical comes on. What happened where I live was that the higher price of a heat pump was just barely recovered from the efficiency savings when the heat pump died and had to be replaced. The combination heat/AC dual units fared even worse with the switching valve failures. I haven't seen one for new construction for more than two decades.

I would consider converting to forced air furnace. There are pro's and cons to all heating types and considerations where you live. But if a house is say 40* how much energy will be used and how long will it take to get to 70*? Compare baseboard vs forced air furnace(various types gas,electric etc) costs and you will find what suites your needs. I know my (high efficiency) gas forced air furnace will heat the house in short time compared to gas/oil fired boiler/baseboards and use less fuel to do it.

has anyone ever noticed heating systems seem to break down or have problems in the winter, while ac systems seem to do the same in summer ?

that is so true....

I forgot to mention that we had to add heat strip to our system to get it to actually make heat in the winter
The dang air conditioning company milk the heck out of us on that deal
I didn't shop around or ask for other people's experience with all the company here in central Oregon

You mean they have problems when they are in use, and don't have problems when not in use?

I've been in our house 30 years and it is all electric with a heat pump. The original trane unit went about 15 years. The second carrier unit about 5. It was replaced with another heavily discounted Carrier Infinity system that's approaching 10. They gave us a 10 year P&L warranty (😓) so I'm sweating that but figure I can replace it before it fails and the replacement may fail before this one would

The newer pumps will work into the negative temps how negative depends on the system. I believe mine is set to lockout at -15 or 20. I am surprised Cab is having problems at the temps mentioned. A couple of questions for both the OP and Cab:
How old is the house?
Is the system sized properly for the square footage and age of the house?
Another is leaky duct work. They are a lot stricter on this today that they were years ago. My hose was built in 87 and had A LOT of leaks at corners and Joints
Does your system have a whole house humidifier inline with the duct work? They can make a big difference.
Another question is are the windows double pane?
last would be how well are the doors and windows sealing

A younger contractor may suggest a pump based on todays standards for Sq ftg. not taking into account age and other factors.

We do occasionally see -20 or lower around Jan. Feb timeframe

Heat pumps have a reputation to not keep up in very cold weather, are a significant investment, and, run your electric bill through the roof.

Stick with the proven system you already have.

We have a geothermal system that replaced an air to air heat pump system. Both put out cool air in the winter. They warm the house okay, but we have propane ventless heaters in a couple of rooms. When this system $hits the bed, there will be no more heat pumps for us. It will be propane forced air which puts out 100+ degree air out of the registers. Any money that a heat pump system may save is not worth putting up with luke warm air coming out of the registers. The house just seems colder like that.

If it were up to the wife, we would make the change yesterday. We both grew up with natural gas furnaces.

Heat pumps work good...until the outside temps. dip into the 30's range and then they must have a supplemental heat source (either electric heat strips or gas). Here in the mid-south they are ok.
We have had heat pumps for the last 40+ yrs. If I lived in the North I would not consider one.

i believe you are right sir !

my ac/heating guy installed a heat pump at his home about 3 years ago as a test... he says they work 'great'... we are on long island... yes elect costs are $$$, but we have solar panels which generate excess power so we are going with one now... we'll see if there is a savings over our propane boiler

Agree. What I have here in East Tennessee. If I were still in Michigan it would be gas forced air or a boiler with base board. Heat pumps suck when temp drops below 30 degrees.

Not all heat pumps are the same

I just installed this one. Still has a COP over 2, down to -22F.

https://senville.com/28000-btu-tri-zone-mini-split-air-conditioner-sena-30hf-t/

Where are those made and ship from?
I never heard of that brand