Bought a 1960's NE GA home a year ago last December. 1300 sq. ft, brick, with an unfinished partial basement. First electric bill came in at a whopping $250.00, so I called for service on the heat. It hadn't been serviced in years. Ended up they put 5 lbs. of freon in. Electric bill went down. ;-) First question: Does freon need to be put in heat pumps every so often? It's about 10 years old.

My rehab plans for the home is finishing that partial basement into an extra bedroom/bath/laundryroom. It's nearly done and I will soon be heating & cooling that area. Without doing that yet, this January electric bill came in at $185.00. Granted, we had a couple really cold weeks, but could I be losing freon again? It just seems really high. BTW it is a total electric house.

How long is a heat pump supposed to last? I guess it's the right size for 1300 sq. ft, but with the basement soon to be included in that, am I just doomed to have to buy a new heat pump for the total space of 2000 sq. ft?

Sorry if I appear inept at this, but it is my first home. Thanks for any help you can offer!

Your electric bill sounds about right. In South Florida I had summer electric bills around $200 in a huge double wide home 24X80. An all electric home usually runs around what you quoted.

See how your present heat pump performs after you finish your renovations before investing in another unit. Your present unit might be able to do the job for you.

If you have to add refrigerant to any system you have it's a problem.(leak in the system) They say the average life of a system is 16 years. I seen them last a lot longer and some a lot less.

Your system should not need routine charging, only in the case of a part failure or a leak due to faulty brazing, etc. If you are are concerned you can have a tech come out and check things.

You are correct to be concerned that your system was not designed for the added heating load. As this is a basement the cooling load is negligible. Since oversizing systems in the HVAC industry is rampant (rather than right sizing them), see if your system can handle it.

There is no hard and fast data on system longevity. It is largely irrelevant since the most economical decision for you is to ride it until it dies. BTW my aging York is now 18.

MY Bryant is 31 years old and still running well.

Just for the record, I replaced my Goodman h/p two years ago. It failed after only 10 years (refrigerant leak at outdoor coil). It was out-of-warranty, and I could not justify the repair expense, even providing the labor myself. Truth is, I was glad to see it go. It was here when we bought the house in 2002, and I now have the Bryant of my dreams...