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You're right - they said -20F. I didn't leave out the minus sign, I didn't even see it!, and it's interesting why. Thirty years ago my parents had a house havin
by taylodl 4y ago
You're right - they said -20F. I didn't leave out the minus sign, I didn't even see it!, and it's interesting why. Thirty years ago my parents had a house having both a gas furnace and a heat pump that worked in tandem. They had a problem with their furnace that they didn't immediately fix because they were using the heat pump. Then they got the bill. It was nearly 3x more expensive than usual. My dad immediately got the furnace fixed.
What I recall my dad saying is when the furnace guy came out to fix the furnace my dad was talking to the furnace guy about the bill. The furnace guy said heat pumps get very inefficient below 20F. So my dad's system was designed to run the heat pump until the outside temperature got to 20F and then it would switch over to the furnace, if available. If it detected the furnace not coming on then it would continue to run the heat pump. So I've had it in my head ever since that you don't want to run a heat pump below 20F.
Are the new heat pumps different? Is it now -20F instead of 20F before your costs soar?
- pfdietz 4y agoYes, apparently there have been huge advances in the efficiency of heat pumps since then. And this is why ground source heat pumps are less of a thing these days: you don't need the help of that underground temperature as much. This guy gets really excited about heat pumps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFEHFsO-XSI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFEHFsO-XSI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43XKfuptnik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43XKfuptnik
- taylodl 4y agoThanks for the links!
- ncmncm 4y agoIt is still not too smart to run your heat pump below 10F. It will work, but the BTUs it can produce will be limited, right when you need a lot more because it's f*%&in' cold out.