3 ms·
Gas furnace and resistive electric work everywhere when they work. This isn't true of heat pumps. They only work in most climates. But it'd be tough using a he
by superkuh 2y ago
Gas furnace and resistive electric work everywhere when they work. This isn't true of heat pumps.
They only work in most climates. But it'd be tough using a heat pump around Minneapolis or Moscow when it's -20F for a week. The non-universality of heat pumps is a speed bump in path to use.
- gnabgib 2y agoThere are multiple types of heat pumps. Ground-source heat pumps will work to -30c and beyond[0]. If you buy a cold climate air-source heat pump it will also work to -30c (while a conventional model taps out around -10c). They also provide cooling in summer. [0]: https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/heat-pump-faq-1.6824634 https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/heat-pump-faq-1.6824634
- superkuh 2y agoI hope things have changed. 10 years ago when I rented a house with a ground source heat pump each winter was terrible. The frost depth here defined by building code is 60". I imagine that system had been burried much too shallow to be effective. Which brings me to my point: the colder a region is the further down in the ground you have to dig the more costly that excavation rapidly becomes. Ground-source heat pumps are not a competitive solution for cold places in terms of up-front cost.
- jebarker 2y agoYep. We heat our house through Colorado winters (pretty cold, but not really cold) with just a high efficiency heat pump and resistive backup in the air handler. The resistive is rarely needed. This is beside the point though which was that even non-electric heating systems often require electricity to function.
- bryanlarsen 2y agoAnother choice for cold climates is a cascading heat pump: 2 or 3 heat pumps in series, each with a different working fluid.