Why Heat Pumps Excel at Winter Heating
Heat pumps are 4x more efficient than furnaces. Instead of burning fuel to create heat, they transfer existing heat energy into your home — a process that remains efficient even when temperatures plunge below zero. Modern cold-climate heat pumps like Quilt maintain 100% heating capacity down to -5°F and 90% capacity at -13°F, exceeding performance requirements for 99% of winter days across the United States.
The efficiency advantage is dramatic. While gas furnaces operate at 80-95% efficiency and electric resistance heating converts electricity at a 1:1 ratio, heat pumps achieve 200-400% efficiency. This translates directly to your heating bills — an industry leading heat pump like Quilt with their SEER2 rating of 25 and HSPF2 of 12 can reduce heating costs by 20-40% compared to traditional systems.
Room-by-Room Control: The Ductless Winter Advantage
Traditional heating systems waste energy maintaining uniform temperatures throughout your entire home, including unused guest rooms, empty home offices, and living rooms at night while you’re sleeping. Ductless systems offer room by room control that changes the equation entirely.
With Quilt, you control each room independently through the Dial or App. Your bedroom stays perfectly warm for sleeping while unused rooms automatically reduce energy consumption. The primary living spaces maintain ideal comfort during the day, then adjust when you move to other areas. In a case study with a San Francisco Bay Area homeowner, Quilt's all-electric system delivered a 28% reduction in heating energy consumption compared to their previous winter's traditional heating system.
How Modern Heat Pump Winter Efficiency
- Advanced Defrost Technology: When outdoor coils accumulate frost in cold, humid conditions, modern heat pumps use intelligent defrost cycles that activate only when needed, maintaining heating performance while minimizing energy use. Unlike older systems that defrost on fixed schedules, smart controls monitor actual conditions to optimize operation.
- Variable-Speed Compressors: Instead of cycling on and off like traditional systems, modern heat pumps modulate output to match your exact heating needs. This eliminates temperature swings, reduces energy consumption, and maintains consistent comfort throughout winter days and nights.
- Cold-Climate Engineering: Today's heat pumps feature enhanced vapor injection technology and improved refrigerant management that maintain heating capacity even as temperatures plunge. These systems can extract heat from outdoor air down to -15°F and below, delivering reliable warmth when you need it most.
With Quilt, the most efficient heat pump on the market, you unlock additional winter advantages:
- Occupancy Detection: Quilt's radar-based occupancy detection operates invisibly in the background. Leave a room for 20 minutes, and the system automatically adjusts to save energy. Return, and your preferred temperature restores within minutes — no manual adjustments needed. This smart feature alone can reduce heating costs by 15-25% in typical homes.
- Over-the-Air Intelligence: Through software updates, every Quilt system gets smarter over time. Recent updates have unlocked additional heating capacity (up to 25,200 BTU/hr), improved efficiency algorithms, and room-by-room energy insights — all without service visits or equipment changes.
Beyond Efficiency: The Complete Heat Pump Advantage
Consider the full advantages of upgrading to an all-electric heat pump system:
- Safer and healthier: No combustion means no carbon monoxide risks
- More comfortable: Consistent, draft-free heat without hot and cold spots
- Quieter: Whisper-quiet operation compared to forced-air systems
- Heating and cooling in one: Same equipment provides cooling in summer
Making the Switch to Smarter, More Efficient Heating
Don't be stuck out in the cold — find a Quilt Certified Partner to get Quilt today. Join thousands of homeowners who've already upgraded to the smartest way to heat and cool their homes.
To find an installer near you, check out: quilt.com/reserve.
To learn more about our partner program: quilt.com/partners.