I, too, have watched the Technology Connections video.
Good, and I use one. It’s mind boggling that anyone wouldn’t use one? It uses so little energy that I don’t even notice. My stupid always-on smart TV uses more power…
I wouldn’t say I don’t notice as it’s most of my energy use. Monthly in summer we use 150-200kWh, in winter its 550-650. Heat pump does heating and hot water so the shower uses it too.
True, my old place couldn’t setup the pump for water heating also, plus my place is smaller and in an area that doesn’t get too hot or cold. It’s mostly a very inexpensive AC for me.
The water heater is on the todo list but it’s a but tough to afford everything at once.
About fucking time. I’ve never understood why they weren’t used to begin with.
In many areas, fossil fuel energy is much cheaper than electrical energy, so much so that even with heat pumps operating at 300+% efficiency, it was still cheaper to burn fuel than to use a heat pump.
When piped residential gas cost $0.01/cubic foot, and each cubic foot contains 0.3 kWh of energy, that energy price was comparable to 3.3 cents per kWh. So even compared with a electric heat pump that was 300% efficient, that gas would still be cheaper than electricity that cost $0.10/kWh.
Now that gas is more expensive (national average approaching $0.02 per cubic foot), and heat pumps tend to be more efficient, some up to 500%, the simple math starts to favor electric heat pumps, where a 500% efficient heat pump running at even $0.30/kWh is still cheaper than a gas furnace. Basically, the breakeven point has tripled in just over a decade.
Also, as heat pump technology has improved, they are capable of operating efficiently at lower temperatures than before, so that the real world performance more closely matches the simple calculations in those cold climates. Plus because they work better now, the customers are less likely to notice a performance difference in heating.
In the northern locations they got a really bad name early on because the early models didn’t do jack in colder climates, so it didn’t make sense to have the pump and an additional heat source ontop of it so many just went to having a lone heat source like a furnace.
Since then they have steadily improved in tech and if you get the right type are good for locations that don’t go under -23C (-10 F) but, they still have a bad name due to the experiences with the early tech.
Northern places like Scandinavia?
New England, the Pacific Northwest, the Gulf Coast.
they used to be expensive.
That’s incredibly short-sighted since they still paid for themselves.
Not for apartment dwellers.
Cool beans. Try being poor.
Or inline water heaters. Seriously the whole world uses them.
They’ve been the standard around here for my entire lifetime. I’m in my first house that doesn’t have one and when the air conditioner goes I’m replacing it with a heat pump.
Air conditioner is a heat pump.
Well yes; at least where I’m from (the American southeast) an “air conditioner” will run only in one direction for cooling a space, a “heat pump” is the same technology with the addition of a reversing valve that can heat or cool the space. The HVAC technician I have on contract will understand exactly what I mean by “I want to replace my air conditioner with a heat pump.” with no further elaboration.
Not all are reversible, and given they said when it goes I would assume it is an older one that can’t do heating.
It is relatively new, installed in 2006 or so, alongside a condensing natural gas furnace. The furnace provides heat, the AC provides cool. It’s working okay for now, when it’s time to replace it I’ll replace it with a heat pump system and retain the furnace for emergency and defrost.
Unless it gets very cold, probably no need to keep it. Had mine removed and I live in the UK. Not sure if there is anywhere that needs AC in summer and gets too cold for a heat pump in winter.
Not an option. Two reasons:
-
Emergency heat is a legal requirement. A heat pump system without a source of emergency heat does not meet the North Carolina residential building code. That law was written back when AC was newfangled and untrusted, and Raleigh (and many other state capitols) didn’t want families freezing to death because a compressor motor failed.
-
American central HVAC systems are modular by nature, a heat pump system is designed to rely on the emergency heat system for defrost heat. Auto-defrost is accomplished by overriding the thermostat and commanding Emergency Heat ON, reversing valve to AC, compressor ON, fan ON. The ensuing sparring match between the heater and air conditioner pretty effectively defrosts the outdoor unit. And in the United States at least, by far the world’s largest producer of natural gas, it’s considerably less expensive to do that under methane power than electricity.
Defrost is a critical feature in my climate; winter hovers around freezing, often climbing to 1 or 2C during the day and dipping to -3 or -4C at night, and the relative humidity is ALWAYS high. Perfect icing conditions for a heat pump.
Emergency heat is a legal requirement
Isn’t that a requirement only applicable to health facilities, and one that you can also skip if you have two separate energy sources?
Surely a heat pump can fail just as easily as a boiler? Log burner or even a biofuel fire kinda thing would be far more suitable as an actual emergency backup.
A heat pump system without a source of emergency heat does not meet the North Carolina residential building code.
I lived in an NC apartment complex. When the power went out, we froze. There was no emergency heat.
-
One thing that is hard about my unemployment was this was an upgrade we were hoping to make.
Technology Connections is probably rejoicing at this news.
Because each apart is now heated/cooled independently, so the tenant can pay utility costs. And heating/cooling are one unit and the price of heat pumps has really come down and are easy to install.
