I have purchased a 1930's house in the downtown area of Jasper. It currently has central air with natural gas heat. The neighbor is plumbed for natural gas. The whole system needs replacing. I've only heated with heat pumps in newer houses with adequate insulation. What would be my best bet to economically heat a drafty old house with very little insulation?

Sometimes even though they’re more expensive, windows save you money in the long run

Get your windows and insulation up to speed first !

I hate my heat pump, it runs all night on nights around or below freezing and our house is only 2 years old so its well insulated and has good windows. I would go gas all day, unfortunately spire isn't available on my road and we didn't want an above ground propane tank. If i had it to do over i would have buried a propane tank and went all gas everything appliance i could.

We had a heat pump at our first house. It would do ok until the temps got down in the 30’s. Then the emergency heat strip would come on. Not only could you not stay in there with it, what it did to the power bill was awful. I said never again. Love my gas heat.

We are all electric because we don't have a choice. However, IMHO gas is the way to go for heat and water heaters based on my previous experience.

The ONLY thing I didn't like about gas heat was it seemed to remove too much moisture from the house - which caused my sinuses (I have terrible sinuses from having my nose broken twice) some fits.

If you knowingly know that the insulation is poor, go ahead and tackle that when you replace the Heating system.

If you have gas, but are use to heat pumps. Go with a duel fuel option. You’re get the efficiency of a heat pump until it’s “too cold” and then you can have the hot heat of gas. With modern thermostats, you can control the switchover temperatures in which it operates Heat Pump or Gas.

Yep, it’ll dry that air out quick. Whole home steam humidifiers can combat that, if someone wants the comfort and isn’t afraid of the extra expense.

Heat Pump/Gas. Set the HP to lock out at 32 and switch over to gas. Expensive up front, but worth it the farther North you go.

The attic appears to be insulated well, but talking with the neighbors of similar vintage houses, the walls are not insulated.

I must be different, but I don't like gas heat, it gets to hot. I prefer the cooler warmth of the heat pump. Now mine wasn't very happy last december.

my thought is that gas prices are very unstable and is almost always higher. if you want comfort go gas, but for saving money go heat pump. yep in the 90's I had a 1950's house 1800 sqf with uninsulated walls and gas heat my bill was over $450 for one month to keep it 62 degrees, never again will I be at the mercy of gas prices.

I wanted to go this route in my last build, but every installer I talked to advised against it. They said they are a constant headache due to malfunctions. I’m not an AC guy obviously, but just passing that info along. I thought it was a great idea personally but since so many were telling me the same exact thing, it scared me out of going this route. In theory, this would be the best option imo, just do your homework.

Ditto. My house is well insulated and has good quality windows. We're comfortable with our electric HP in winter and are comfortable with the electric bill too.

This is what I did at my place in Milton.

Gas heat, the outside unit for a HP basically runs 365 days a year. Heat pumps heats the air outside to your inside temp. If you settle on a heat pump I would install ventless gas logs to knock the chill off in the mornings

Gas heat, always and forever.

I almost always find Gas on main level and a mix of gas/heat pump on upper level.

Why? Heat rises and a heat pump can heat adequately with help from the gas furnace on the lower levels.

Otherwise, I have no use for a heat pump. They suck

Our new home in East Tennessee is propane. The 20kw generator can run most the house being its gas on site.

Nothing better than a hunting club that has an old house with gas heat (Especially when you are use to a pump).

Or a wood stove. I get up on cold mornings (4am) and build a good fire. This eliminates the defrost cycle for the most part. That's the hole the money goes down when the strip heat kicks on
and the outdoor unit is out there steaming and fizzing. Wood needs to be free of course for this to have merit.