Heat pumps

Heat pump vs electric strip heat in Winter Springs, Florida

In Winter Springs a heat pump is usually the better buy. Central Florida runs about seven cooling degree days for every heating degree day, so a heat pump cools exactly as an air conditioner does and replaces the electric strip heat most 1970s–80s homes here were built with — the conversion Duke Energy publishes up to $1,000 for.

The short version

It is the same box, plus a valve

A heat pump is an air conditioner. In cooling mode it is the same refrigeration cycle, the same SEER2 rating, the same condenser in the side yard. The difference is a reversing valve that lets it run backwards on a cold morning and move heat into the house at two to three units of heat per unit of electricity — where a strip heater delivers exactly one. Winter here is short, but it is not free.

NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the two nearest first-order stations put Central Florida at 3,452 to 3,694 annual cooling degree days against 468 to 525 heating degree days — about seven units of cooling for every one of heating.

Heating was an afterthought when most of this city was built, and the standard 1970s–80s package was straight cooling with an electric strip-heat coil in the air handler. Four decades later the condenser has been replaced three or four times — usually with another straight-cool condenser — and the strip heat is still there. It only runs a few weeks a year, but when it does it can double a bill. The January bill, explained.

How to check yours in thirty seconds: if the thermostat has an “emergency heat” or “aux heat” setting that is the only heat, and the panel has a large double-pole breaker feeding the indoor air handler as well as the condenser’s own breaker, you are almost certainly on electric strip heat.

Locally

Where the strip heat is, by street

The parcel file names the streets. These are the largest Winter Springs subdivisions with a 1970–89 share above 86%, which is the strip-heat era:

Selected Winter Springs subdivisions from the county parcel file.
Subdivision	Parcels	Median year built	Middle half built	Median sq ft	With a pool
Winter Springs Unit 4	379	1977	1976–1978	2,166	215
Wildwood	291	1983	1980–1984	1,248	17
Wedgewood Tennis Villas	233	1984	1982–1985	1,457	19
North Orlando Ranches Sec 02A	191	1980	1978–1983	1,729	61
North Orlando Townsite 4Th Add Replat	183	1971	1971–1972	1,162	13
Casa Park Villas Ph 2	168	1985	1985–1985	1,088	0
Casa Park Villas Ph 1	156	1984	1984–1984	1,156	0
Oak Forest Unit 6	154	1987	1987–1988	2,066	93
Tuscawilla Unit 14B	153	1988	1988–1989	2,686	141
Tuscawilla Unit 14A	140	1987	1986–1987	2,582	124

Winter Springs Unit 4 alone is 379 parcels with a middle half built 1976–78, and 215 of them have a pool. Those houses were designed around a straight-cool condenser and a 60-amp strip-heat breaker; a heat pump changeout there is the upgrade Duke pays the most for. The 2000s subdivisions — Parkstone, Tuskawilla Crossings — were far more likely to be built with heat pumps already, and there the published rebate for replacing one is $500, not $1,000. Two houses on Tuscawilla’s later phases can need different scopes; we check what is actually installed before quoting.

Source: Seminole County Property Appraiser CAMA extract, files dated 5 September 2026. Improved residential parcels (single-family, townhome and condominium; DOR codes 01xx and 04xx) in tax districts W1 and W2.

On the day

What converting actually changes

What a conversion actually changes on site: a new outdoor unit and indoor coil or air handler matched as a system; the thermostat, which needs a heat pump-aware control with a proper auxiliary-heat stage; and often the strip heat itself, which stays as backup but drops from primary to emergency. What it does not change: the ductwork. A heat pump moves more air for longer in heating mode than a straight-cool system ever did, so a 1977 attic trunk that was adequate for cooling can become the limit. Measure static pressure before you buy. What duct work costs here.

The permit is the same City mechanical permit — $180 on an $8,000 job — and the rebate is only reachable if the Home Energy Check happened first. The order of operations.

The question this page answers

Wording is left exactly as searchers type it, capitalisation included.

is it better to have a heat pump or air conditioner

In Winter Springs a heat pump is usually the better buy. Central Florida runs about seven cooling degree days for every heating degree day, so a heat pump cools exactly as an air conditioner does and replaces the electric strip heat most 1970s–80s homes here were built with — the conversion Duke Energy publishes up to $1,000 for.

Keep reading

Sources

Where the facts on this page come from

Every figure above is either a primary-source document or a named third-party cost guide, and all of it was checked in September 2026. Fee schedules, rebate amounts and market prices change without notice — if you are about to spend money on one of these numbers, open the source and check it.