Heat Pumps (1 Viewer)

[0rion]

I'd love to use a heat pump and they're coming along nicely for cold climates so I have no doubt I'll have one at some point. That being said....over Xmas it got cold here. The highs were -3 with a -36 wind chill. With everyone running every heating appliance they had at max effort the PJM released a statement there could be rolling blackouts due to an overtaxed grid. How's it going to work with even more people and more stuff going electric? Seems we're putting the horse before the cart a little bit.

 

[Optimus Prime]

VAN BUREN, Maine — The video starts with a Maine radio show host dressed in a bright-red jumpsuit walking through the snow to a stranger’s door and delighting her with an offer of free heating oil.

“My name’s Blake, we’re from Maine Energy Facts, and we want to fill up your oil — it’s on us!” he says at another stop, where a woman thanks him profusely as she cradles her baby.


Funded by a heating oil industry group, the “Fuel Your Love” promotional campaign has a feel-good touch, but it directs viewers to a website dispensing home heating advice that is peppered with overwhelmingly negative, and sometimes misleading, claims about electric-powered heat pumps, saying they “are simply not ideal for climates like ours.”


The message doesn’t seem to be working. Mainers are embracing heat pumps — boxy machines that function like reverse air conditioners, combining heating and cooling systems in a single unit.

In a state where winter is long and chilling, and exorbitant oil and gas prices have motivated people to switch, crews have installed tens of thousands of heat pumps, prompting the fossil fuel industry to step up its efforts to beat back the trend…….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/02/07/maine-gas-industry-heat-pumps/

 

[bclemms]

I have solar panels with a battery storage system. I have a gas furnace that runs the main section of the house but keep it set really low. I have my office space which is a converted garage, it is 400 square feet and has all windows on two of the walls. I replaced a 2.5 ton electric unit for a mini-split with heat pump. Once the temps get below 40 outside the heat pump does very little. Above 50 degrees it can keep the room at 70. My main concern was cooling this room off, for that the mini split is incredible. I can deal with 55-60 degree temps on colder days. I have a space heater when the temps get below 30 which is only about 10-15 nights a year. I can keep this room at 70 degrees in the summer and almost all of the power usage is from solar I generate. The remaining electricity and gas bill is offset by additional solar buy back and is a really close annual offset. The room I have is really not ideal for a heat pump with all the glass, tile floors and 3 of the walls either facing outside or the garage.

I would probably draw the cut off line for a heat pump somewhere along the I-40 corridor. North of that and it would really be hard to justify.

 

[dtc]

My former boss swore by them. They do provide very consistent power bills year round.

The higher end systems are extremely efficient and as long as you have some secondary heat they're fine.

They do not perform well for extended periods of very cold weather so an electric heat strip or gas furnace is required in colder areas.

 

[LonghornSaint]

The higher end systems are extremely efficient and as long as you have some secondary heat they're fine.

They do not perform well for extended periods of very cold weather so an electric heat strip or gas furnace is required in colder areas.

This is what I've heard. I'm on oil right now, which right now is so expensive. I got a quote for a heat pump with ducts for the 2nd floor and minisplits for the 1st. My furnace is in veryh good shape and relatively new, so I'll keep the oil as backup for the super cold days. Eventually I'll get solar on the roof, my house is positioned perfectly for it.