5 ms·

Being a Florida native, seeing an article titled "Heat Pumps [are] the Future of A/Cs" feels like it should have a ` [1973]` tacked on to the end of it. A heat

Being a Florida native, seeing an article titled "Heat Pumps [are] the Future of A/Cs" feels like it should have a ` [1973]` tacked on to the end of it. A heat pump is pretty much the only thing we use here, we just use them in reverse. Literally. Most residential units have a "reversing valve" that must be held open by a constant 24V in order to cool the air - the default mode is heating -- which is so smart to have a failure mode that causes your house to be heated in the summer to 95F while you sleep. Anyway, my heat pump just stopped working this weekend, and its getting very hot in here.

chrsig 3y ago
My electric furnace needed to be urgently replaced in the beginning of the winter, I'm quite happy that my new heat pump would default to heat...Half of the year :)
MrRadar 3y ago
A large part of it is that heat pumps only within the past decade became efficient enough to install in northern US climates, where temperatures are below freezing 4+ months of the year. It's relatively easy to design an air-source heat pump that will work efficiently down to freezing, it's much harder to design one that will work efficiently well below freezing, and frankly the A/C manufacturers who traditionally sold to the US market haven't really tried all that hard (they probably don't/didn't expect a large enough market to offset the development costs). It's newer market entrants from Asia that are really pushing the envelope of heat pump efficiency and making it feasible.
- Maxion 3y ago
  Air source heat pumps have worked well at -20c for a few decades now over her ein Finland. Not sure what type of chinesium grade heatpumps you have over there in the US.
  - bob-09 3y ago
    Blame the building materials and shoddy aging homes, not just the pumps. -25c windchill whistled through cracks in my doors and windows at my last rental, and my feet would go numb if I forgot to wear slippers in the kitchen.

chrsig 3y ago

My electric furnace needed to be urgently replaced in the beginning of the winter, I'm quite happy that my new heat pump would default to heat...Half of the year :)

MrRadar 3y ago

A large part of it is that heat pumps only within the past decade became efficient enough to install in northern US climates, where temperatures are below freezing 4+ months of the year. It's relatively easy to design an air-source heat pump that will work efficiently down to freezing, it's much harder to design one that will work efficiently well below freezing, and frankly the A/C manufacturers who traditionally sold to the US market haven't really tried all that hard (they probably don't/didn't expect a large enough market to offset the development costs). It's newer market entrants from Asia that are really pushing the envelope of heat pump efficiency and making it feasible.

Maxion 3y ago
Air source heat pumps have worked well at -20c for a few decades now over her ein Finland. Not sure what type of chinesium grade heatpumps you have over there in the US.
- bob-09 3y ago
  Blame the building materials and shoddy aging homes, not just the pumps. -25c windchill whistled through cracks in my doors and windows at my last rental, and my feet would go numb if I forgot to wear slippers in the kitchen.