https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syracuse,_New_York#/media/File...
the average temperature is below freezing for four months.
I guess that's the value of having a big heat sink, the Pacific Ocean, at your doorstep: temperatures are more stable.
When it's really cold out (say 25F or below), the heat pump stops for around 10mins to defrost the exterior coils, which means no heat running at all in that period, and this pause happens more frequently the colder it's outside. The end result, our ~1400 sq place took more than 24hrs to heat up from 55F to 72F when we got back after christmas.
Also you don't save any money on operating it, even with the efficiency yade yada the cost of electricity will run you more than the equivalent in nat gas. So nothing but downside.
My limited understanding of the defrost cycle is that it’s most a problem around 0c? If it’s a colder or warmer it doesn’t get triggered as often?
Heat pumps need to be scaled for the maximum heating or cooling load, whichever is greater. The optimal situation is that the heating and cooling loads are similar, but in colder parts of the U.S. the heating load is much larger than the cooling load and the case for the heat pump is not so good as a place where the need for heating and cooling are more balanced.