[uconnectlol]

they also aren't very hot and wont work in northern cities, but people will install them there anyway. "boiler" - is that jargon for multiple kinds of heating units or actually just boilers?

[doctorhandshake]

Are you saying heat pumps won’t work in cold climates? That hasn’t been true in some time. https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/heat-pumps-for-...

[bluGill]

Heat pumps work down to -25C. Cold climates get colder than that. Sure most cold climates are typically above that, but it only takes one night every 10 years to hit those temperatures and a heat pump alone does not work. You need a backup. Of cousre once we have a backup we can ask if it is cost effect - heat pumps get less efficient as temperatures go down - when you need the most heat, so it may be most cost effective to install a heat pump that doesn't even work to that cold (perhaps it does but is under sized?) and just use backup heat when it is cold.

[twic]

By boiler i mean the big box on the wall in the kitchen which burns natural gas to heat water. This may be a UK specific usage.

[foresto]

I think this is known as a tankless water heater in the US. (Tankless because you said it's on the wall.)

[sgerenser]

Boilers are definitely much more common in the UK than US. I believe New England is one of the few areas of the US that has a relatively high percentage of homes with hydronic+boiler heating setups. In most other parts of the U.S., many people probably have no idea what a boiler even is.