25 ms·
The colder the weather the less humidity the air can old, so it's not really that much of an issue. Heat pumps definitely do lose efficiency as the air temp dro
by LarsAlereon 4y ago
The colder the weather the less humidity the air can old, so it's not really that much of an issue. Heat pumps definitely do lose efficiency as the air temp drops, which is why it's important to get one that has a size and minimum operating temperature that's appropriate for your use. Washington actually has an energy code that requires heat pumps be properly sized to heat the house without needing to fall back to resistance heat.
- legitster 4y agoI live in Washington and am very familiar with heat pumps. I am sharing person experience - on cold days you will get much lower than the rated efficiency. In Eastern Washington, it's arguable that it would save you much energy over a resistive heater.
- TheCoelacanth 4y agoDifferent models of heat pumps vary wildly in how well they can handle very cold temperatures. Personal experience with one or two different heat pumps is practically meaningless.
- hedora 4y agoThe new ones fall back on resistive heating as necessary. It simply doesn't get cold enough for that to be true in the cities on a regular basis. Yakima and Spokane's record lows are both -25F: https://coolweather.net/statetemperature/washington_temperature.htm https://coolweather.net/statetemperature/washington_temperat... Heat pumps that operate down to -20F to -25F are available from multiple vendors. At that point, they switch over to resistive heating. So, on record cold days, the COP is near one, but on an average day (low of +36F), it will be over 3 or 4. Cold weather heat pumps are relatively new; perhaps you have experience with conventional models? (Record low for the state is -45F. At that point you want backup heat sources, etc, and the heat pump would probably be outside its operating range.)