By installing a heat pump in his house in the hills of Oslo, Oyvind Solstad killed three birds with one stone, improving his comfort, finances and climate footprint.

Heat pumps can’t take the cold? Nordics debunk the myth::By installing a heat pump in his house in the hills of Oslo, Oyvind Solstad killed three birds with one stone, improving his comfort, finances and climate footprint.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.eeEnglish
    31·
    8 months ago

    There is a really, really big caveat here.

    While all of this is true, and while heat pumps are definitely more efficient than gas/oil/electric heat, you MUST have a well-insulated home without drafts. If your home is not well insulated, or is drafty, then heat pumps likely will not keep your home at a comfortable temperature.

    A standard furnace works by kicking on when heat drops below the set point of your thermostat, and then it blasts heated air until the whole space is a certain temperature above the set point on your thermostat, and then shuts off. The most efficient heat pumps are constantly trickling a little heat at a time, rather than cycling on and off. If your home is poorly insulated or drafty, then you can end up losing heat faster than the heat pump can bring it in. The better your insulation and the better sealed your home is, the better your results with a heat pump will be.

    Unfortunately, my home is largely uninsulated and pretty drafty; without doing a pretty significant amount of work, at a fairly steep cost, I can’t retrofit to a heat pump.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1·
      8 months ago

      A standard furnace works by kicking on when heat drops below the set point

      So does a heat pump, and you can get Air to Water heat pumps that work almost exactly as a furnace.

      The most efficient heat pumps are constantly trickling a little heat at a time, rather than cycling on and off.

      Our stoker wood pellet furnace does the same if possible, it can’t go below 25% capacity, because it doesn’t burn right at lower capacities. So at certain temperatures, it maintains a steady state, but at others it has to turn on and off. A heat pump can easily do whatever is more efficient.

      PS:

      Heat pumps are similar technology to fridges, which also turn on and off depending on needs.

    • xthexder@l.sw0.comEnglish
      1·
      8 months ago

      It seems to me like you’re describing the genetic problem of having an undersized heating system, not anything specific to heat pumps. I’m positive heat pumps exist that are equal in capacity to whatever furnace you have.

      It does sound like in your case improving your house’s insulation would be a better investment than installing a new heating system though.