3 ms·

what happens if you need to heat your house and it's below -10?

by gegtik 3y ago

pletnes 3y ago
I use my 15 year old Panasonic heatpump down to -20 C. Add some wood to the fire on the coldest days. Works great although the «free energy» is really low at those temperatures.
pg_bot 3y ago
If you can get refrigerant to a lower temperature than -10, you can still grab heat from the outside environment thereby heating your house.
jillesvangurp 3y ago
It works less efficiently but it doesn't stop working. From the article: “As a result, it boasts a reliable heating performance, enabling it to deliver a 100% heating performance in temperatures as low as -10 C.“ The freezing point of propane is -188C. So, it should continue to compress and expand just fine at extreme temperatures. It's just that the heat transfer probably gets a bit less efficient and it might not heat all the way to 70 degrees anymore or require more energy to do so.
timbit42 3y ago
Nothing. Your heat pump will still work. Modern heat pumps typically have a COP of 4 with some of the newest ones approaching 5.5. With a COP of 4, you can still heat your home when the outside temperature is -30C. The colder the outside air is, the less efficient a heat pump is so below -30C, the heat pump will still work, but the COP may have fallen to 1 or below and so may not be as energy efficient as resistive heating at that point. Another point to consider is the capacity of your heat pump. If it's capacity is not enough to heat the room or home at -30C, it may not be able to keep up, even though it keeps up fine at -10. Make sure you have enough capacity to heat the area you need, down to the lowest outside temperatures you typically get in your area. Absolute zero is -273C at which point there is no heat left, so at -30C, there is still a lot of heat left for a heat pump to extract to heat your home.

3 ms·

what happens if you need to heat your house and it's below -10?

by gegtik 3y ago

what happens if you need to heat your house and it's below -10?

pletnes 3y ago
I use my 15 year old Panasonic heatpump down to -20 C. Add some wood to the fire on the coldest days. Works great although the «free energy» is really low at those temperatures.
pg_bot 3y ago
If you can get refrigerant to a lower temperature than -10, you can still grab heat from the outside environment thereby heating your house.
jillesvangurp 3y ago
It works less efficiently but it doesn't stop working. From the article: “As a result, it boasts a reliable heating performance, enabling it to deliver a 100% heating performance in temperatures as low as -10 C.“ The freezing point of propane is -188C. So, it should continue to compress and expand just fine at extreme temperatures. It's just that the heat transfer probably gets a bit less efficient and it might not heat all the way to 70 degrees anymore or require more energy to do so.
timbit42 3y ago
Nothing. Your heat pump will still work. Modern heat pumps typically have a COP of 4 with some of the newest ones approaching 5.5. With a COP of 4, you can still heat your home when the outside temperature is -30C. The colder the outside air is, the less efficient a heat pump is so below -30C, the heat pump will still work, but the COP may have fallen to 1 or below and so may not be as energy efficient as resistive heating at that point. Another point to consider is the capacity of your heat pump. If it's capacity is not enough to heat the room or home at -30C, it may not be able to keep up, even though it keeps up fine at -10. Make sure you have enough capacity to heat the area you need, down to the lowest outside temperatures you typically get in your area. Absolute zero is -273C at which point there is no heat left, so at -30C, there is still a lot of heat left for a heat pump to extract to heat your home.