It's not uncommon for conventional furnace-style home heaters to give out in extreme weather, but that doesn't mean you'll have to weather it through the bitter cold. In the r/heatpumps Reddit forum, one homeowner shared their experience with a backup heat pump system after their primary residential boiler failed "in sub-freezing temperatures and snow."

It was sheer luck that this Reddit user had heat pumps installed as a backup — just months before this frigid catastrophe. If you're worried about your conventional heating system, you can find out more about heat pumps on The Cool Down's HVAC Explorer page, and you can invest in some cost-cutting options.

"They definitely got me through the couple of days I needed before the boiler got repaired," the homeowner wrote in the caption, with a smiling emoticon. "Yay!"

Conventional HVAC setups usually involve an air conditioner and a furnace or boiler — both of which drain your finances and our planet. With heat pumps and electric cooling alternatives, you can achieve greater self-sufficiency without relying on the grid for your home's heating and cooling. In other words, they can keep you insulated in an emergency, making them a fantastic backup or replacement altogether.

And since going electric also means abandoning those bulky fuel-burning units, you'd also be putting less planet-heating carbon pollution into the atmosphere.

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To cut your energy costs even further, note that electric HVAC systems pair exceptionally well with rooftop solar panels and can transform your home into one that's even more eco-conscious and self-sustained. With TCD's Solar Explorer tool, you can save up to $10,000 on your solar installation by connecting with vetted, budget-friendly services in your area. Plus, the Palmetto Home app can snag you another $5,000 off in rewards for all your clean-energy home upgrades.

Folks in the Reddit post jumped in to share their own fortunate experiences with heat pumps, coming to the consensus that they're great for cold-weather dwellers.

"I am also in the northeast," one user commented. "Boiler dead for weeks. Pellet stove on no fucks given."

Another commenter wrote: "We have been using our wall mounted heat pump in temperatures above 18°. We have K1 kerosene as our primary heating source and the heat pump is more cost efficient. In retrospect I wish that I had installed a more efficient heat pump. Something that can be used down into the minus numbers."

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