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> "But if you are trying to heat your house to a livable temperature while it’s -20 outside, your efficiency is terrible." Heat pumps are designed so that thei

> "But if you are trying to heat your house to a livable temperature while it’s -20 outside, your efficiency is terrible." Heat pumps are designed so that their "efficiency" (performance) is never less than 100% (COP >= 1). In very cold conditions, they may not be more efficient than resistive electric heating, but they will never be worse. > "places up north where you do spend quite a bit on heating cannot really take advantage of heat pumps due to winters being too cold." You're talking about air-source heat pumps here. In colder regions, it's better to use ground source/geothermal heat pumps. Ground temperature is consistent year-round even in very cold climates.

IgorPartola 6y ago
True. Geothermal heat pumps will always be better but given that you can get an air source heat pump for 10^3 to 10^4 dollars while a geothermal setup will cost you 10^4 to 10^5, geothermal becomes prohibitive for most residential setups.
- bluGill 6y ago
  Depends on your timeframe of investment. Your air source heat pump will need to be replaced in 7-10 years. The really expensive parts of a geothermo system will last basically forever, the other parts may need to be replaced every 7-10 years, but the costs is about the same as replacing a air source heat pump, and geothemo is more efficient in general. Thus if you live in the same house for 30 years geothermo may pay off.
- dharma1 6y ago
  Your upper limit for geothermal seems a bit high, typical installation is 20-30k. But commercial viability depends on typical outside temperature and time frame for payback
- jabl 6y ago
  Over here in northern Europe, for a typical single-family house, replacing an oil-fired boiler with an air-water heat pump (that is, the heat pump uses outside air to heat water that can be run through the existing radiators) costs around 10k-15kEUR, replacing the boiler with a ground-source heat pump (incl. borehole drilling, the whole shebang) is around 15-25kEUR. So the price difference is not huge. In southern parts of the country, and for older houses with less expected life left in them, air-source pumps have proved more popular, whereas further up north and for newer buildings ground-source pumps are more often the choice.

IgorPartola 6y ago

True. Geothermal heat pumps will always be better but given that you can get an air source heat pump for 10^3 to 10^4 dollars while a geothermal setup will cost you 10^4 to 10^5, geothermal becomes prohibitive for most residential setups.

bluGill 6y ago
Depends on your timeframe of investment. Your air source heat pump will need to be replaced in 7-10 years. The really expensive parts of a geothermo system will last basically forever, the other parts may need to be replaced every 7-10 years, but the costs is about the same as replacing a air source heat pump, and geothemo is more efficient in general. Thus if you live in the same house for 30 years geothermo may pay off.
dharma1 6y ago
Your upper limit for geothermal seems a bit high, typical installation is 20-30k. But commercial viability depends on typical outside temperature and time frame for payback
jabl 6y ago
Over here in northern Europe, for a typical single-family house, replacing an oil-fired boiler with an air-water heat pump (that is, the heat pump uses outside air to heat water that can be run through the existing radiators) costs around 10k-15kEUR, replacing the boiler with a ground-source heat pump (incl. borehole drilling, the whole shebang) is around 15-25kEUR. So the price difference is not huge. In southern parts of the country, and for older houses with less expected life left in them, air-source pumps have proved more popular, whereas further up north and for newer buildings ground-source pumps are more often the choice.