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Heat pump vs electric strip heat in Casselberry, Florida
Electric strip heat makes heat at one unit out per unit in; a heat pump moves heat instead and delivers far more across a mild Central Florida winter. In Casselberry, where 57.1% of homes were built 1970-89 on straight-cool plus strip heat, converting is also Duke Energy's largest published rebate.
Strip heat and heat pumps, plainly
Straight-cool + electric strip heat
An outdoor condenser that only cools, and a bank of electric resistance elements in the indoor air handler for heat. Resistance heat is 100% efficient and no better — one unit of electricity in, one unit of heat out. It was cheap to build and Central Florida winters are short, which is exactly why so much of the 1970s and 80s stock has it.
A heat pump
The same machine run backwards in winter: it moves heat rather than making it, so it delivers substantially more heat per unit of electricity across the mild temperatures that make up almost all of a Casselberry winter. Strip heat usually remains as auxiliary backup for the handful of genuinely cold mornings.
The cooling side barely changes. A heat pump and an air conditioner are the same equipment in summer. The conversion is a heating-season and a rebate decision, not a cooling one.
Why this is the Casselberry conversion
Three reasons this is the Casselberry question rather than a generic one.
- The stock. 57.1% of the city’s 8,563 improved residential parcels were built 1970–89, third-highest of the seven Seminole County cities, and that era built straight-cool plus strip heat as standard.
- The rebate. Duke Energy’s largest published HVAC rebate — up to $1,000 — is specifically for replacing electric strip heat with a qualifying heat pump. On the same job an existing heat pump earns $500 and an existing air conditioner $300. Being on strip heat is worth money, once.
- The winter bill. Strip heat is the reason a Casselberry electric bill can double for the two or three weeks a year the elements actually run. If your January bill looks nothing like your December one, that is what you are looking at. Why the bill jumped.
The national cost data is worth knowing here: a 2026 survey of 1,000 homeowners puts the average installed air-source heat pump at $8,007 against $8,460 for a central air conditioner. The heat pump is not the expensive option. Then the rebate comes off.
What could make this the wrong call
The honest limits, because this is not free money:
- The rebate tiers are gated on efficiency — as published, 16 SEER2 / 7.5 HSPF2 for the $1,000 tier. Higher-rated equipment costs more, so run the arithmetic on the equipment and the rebate together, not separately.
- A heat pump moves more air for longer in heating mode. In a 1977 house with an original attic duct trunk, that can expose a duct problem the straight-cool system was hiding. Test the ducts first.
- The Home Energy Check has to happen before installation. Every year, people convert and then discover the rebate is gone.
Book the free Duke Energy Home Energy Check before you replace anything.
Duke Energy requires a free Home Energy Check completed within the previous 24 months to qualify for any Home Energy Improvement rebate. Replace the system first and apply afterwards and the application is denied — there is no retroactive path back.
It is a no-cost visit and it is the single most common way a Casselberry homeowner loses a four-figure rebate. If you are within a year of replacing, book it now, before you call anyone for a quote. Duke’s rebate line is 800.254.8535.
Not sure whether you are on strip heat?
Check whether the thermostat has an emergency-heat setting and whether there is a large double-pole breaker feeding the air handler. Or send us a photo of the panel.
Phone: (689) 308-3675 · Monday-Friday, 8:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Where the facts on this page come from
Every figure above is either a primary-source document or a named third-party cost guide. 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.