Heat Pumps and Electric Heating - Heating an addition in Michigan

I'm adding a new back room to my home and would like to install a separate heat system for it. I'm in Michigan and have heard that heat pumps may not be the best for the cold climate. Any ideas you have about heating this space would be great.

ps. I'd rather not tap into my existing furnace because the addition it on the back of the house and duct work would likely have to run through the basement wall. I'd like to stay with the current furnace & ac serving the 1000 square foot plus basement of the home and then add new service for the addition. Heating and cooling for the addition.

heat pumps have come along way they work much better now you can have a heat strip put in it as well

Lenny:

So do you recommend a particular brand in that will work well in this extremely cold michigan winter? :thinker:

Hard to say without seeing it, but most of the time heat pumps are not up to the task that far north of the mason dixon line unless they are DX geothermal and these thing run into big bucks. What type of heating are you currently using for the main part of the house? If gas just pop in a small furnace and run out a trunk with a few diffusers. Also kinda depends upon room usage. If only used part of the time a nice set of vented gas logs adds ambiance and the ones with the remote controls like the vanguards are a beautiful thing I put a set in my den a few months ago and we love them. Cheap as dirt to. A heat pump will require some pretty hefty electrical wiring with the backup electric coils, you may want to have your panel checked to see if it can handle it before commiting to go that route. How much snow youse guys got on the ground up thar.

We got a couple inches on ground right now with much more coming. I don't think we'll go heat pump for this addition. The current furnace is gas forced air for the rest of the house, but running a duct to this addition will require going through the basement wall and I'm trying not to do that. I'd like to get a little heater to take care of the addition without taxing the main house furnace. I've got plenty of room in my electrical panel. When we bought the house the first thing we did was replace the old 60 amp fuse box service with new 200 amp breakers. I've got room for another 10 or 12 breakers in the panel.

The addition is about 225 square feet and will be used as a main rear entry to house, den/tv area, play area and the main exit to the back patio.