3 ms·

In the context of the article, they are talking about replacing old boiler systems which were generally designed at the turn of the previous century. During tha

• solardev 3y ago
  If I'm understanding you right, heat pumps can't match the BTU (peak power) output of a traditional furnace? You can't just get a bigger heat pump (or several) sized for a larger building?
  • s1mplicissimus 3y ago
    as far as I understand, the challenge with heat pumps compared to traditional boilers is that they operate on a much lower heat. now older homes will often have radiators that are too small to dissipate enough heat given lower-temperature water. in newer setups, this is often solved by using bigger radiation surface (i.e. floor heating) You can size up your heat pump, but you still need to bring the temperature into your room, which requires a big enough surface for the heat to move from the water to the air.
  • Maxion 3y ago
    Lol of course you can.
    • jibbit 3y ago
      It obvious you don’t live in a typical uk house
  • callalex 3y ago
    I can’t speak for every situation, but basically: yes. It’s not the heat pump itself that’s the limit, it’s the energy source that feeds it. The skinny gas pipe going into my home can deliver vastly more energy than the crappy old wires and breaker box can. Upgrading the breaker box is certainly not impossible, but it is enormously expensive. The expense is mostly the expert labor required. If we really cared about making this transition, we would set up collective action and utilize economies of scale by having the utility company come through a neighborhood and upgrade service to every house at the same time to massively reduce the labor costs per home, and amortize the cost of the work. I don’t expect to see that happen in my lifetime, however.
    • solardev 3y ago
      Good point! It's the same bottleneck that many EV or induction stove homeowners face, right?
  • orev 3y ago
    It depends on what you mean by “traditional furnace” since there are many generations of technology in play here. The article talks about “boilers”, which are huge tanks full of fire and steam, usually in the basement of a large office or apartment building, made out of cast iron and attached to cast iron radiators in the living area. They don’t run on a thermostat and just pump out as much heat as possible. These are the type of systems you see in movies where they handcuff someone to the radiator. They’re not at all what most people living in a typical single family dwelling would think of as a furnace, which may be a forced air or water-based baseboard radiator setup. A heat pump can keep up with a traditional furnace type system just fine, but not a boiler system because the buildings with boilers are so old they don’t have much insulation at all.
    • solardev 3y ago
      I see what you mean now. That differentiation escaped me at first. Thank you for the explanation!
    • zarzavat 3y ago
      “Boiler” is British English, “Furnace” is American English. In Britain a boiler is a device in a single family home that provides heating by using gas or electricity to heat water which is then piped to radiators. It is also used to heat water for showers. Boilers can be quite small, many modern boilers are “combi” boilers that heat water on demand without a separate hot water tank. My boiler is the size of a suitcase. Older properties generally have a boiler and insulated hot tank. This means that you need to plan your showers and heating requirements in advance by “putting the water on” to ensure there’s enough hot water in the tank. Forced air heating is rarely used in the UK and people are generally not familiar with the concept.
      • BoiledCabbage 3y ago
        A boiler essentially means the same thing in American English. And they do occur in America. They are just usually rare, and only remain in larger older buildings, or very old residential homes. Most buildings are forced air heated (gas or electric usually) or those more recently installing heat pumps.