Do Heat Pumps work in Very Cold Climates? #mikeholmes answers -#heatpumps

Are heat pumps a good idea for very cold climates?

If you live in an area where electricity is affordable, you should consider a heat pump. They are an alternative to furnaces and air conditioners, as they can also supply cool air for a central air conditioning system during hot weather.

Heat pumps move heat rather than generate heat. This makes them very energy efficient. In fact, a heat pump can reduce your electricity consumption by 50%

[TheFAFOHouse]

I want to hear the actual utility operating cost to the homeowner between a heat pump (electric) and natural gas during winter.

[smb]

It should be noted that the three nations leading the world in heat pump ownership are Norway, Sweden and Finland! Several articles on the web describe how they do it.

[reggieralph]

I used to have an old amana heat pump on my previous house but it would go into aux heating at around -8c and was super noisy especially when in defrost mode . Now my in my new house I got installed a Gree Flexx 3 ton recognized by hydro Quebec and greener homes Canada which is just amazing it’s the cold climate model -30 with a auxiliary electric furnace, the aux come on between 3 min to 25 min per day depending on how cold it is on the day, this machine is incredibly quiet, last 3 weeks average temperature is -15 to -20, house is very comfortable. I live in Quebec Canada.

[greencityheatingandaircond]

The Daikin FIT, Cold Climate heat pump performs amazing here in Washington Stage. They are incredibly quiet and save a ton of energy.

[ZoePaschalis]

Yes thay work .I have a goodman heatpump and works great even when it's-15 c it is helped along with a eletric furnace . The savings are about 50 % a year. A good installer is very important.

[WT-Sherman]

My heat pump has always been able to put out heat, but when the temps get into the 20’s F, it’s working hard.

[MacGyver]

Make sure you mount it high enough so when they defrost it doesn't build up an icy base rendering it useless. Also have emergency coils working just incase the temperature gets below zero.

[pablotrains]

I install minus 30 packages in the bc kooteny's and really is a large energy savings

[alexf]

A COP rating greater than 3 at -25°C. Would be great Mike.

[satinsteeldad]

I've never had a heat pump save me money in my life even when they were just maintenance if anything my power bills were triple double for sure

[tribedescribe]

Maine has been successfully using whole house heat pumps for winter heating for the past several years even in the coldest northern parts like Caribou. They don't make sense for every house especially if you have already installed a natural gas system. In Maine you can get a winter electricity heat pump rate which is cheaper in the winter and more expensive in the summer. I had my whole house hyper heat pumps were installed last month and they are working great. They are two single zone (12k/9k) Mitsubishi hyper heat pumps which work at 100% efficiency at -5. It rarely gets below that in my part of Maine but it did hit -16 last winter for a few hours. Some houses with heat pumps and no backup got colder in the lower 60s but no ones heat pumps stopped working, plus most people have secondary heating sources that can kick inn. Most Maine homes do not have access to natural gas so the electricity rates will easily beat propane and oil by a long shot. Plus you also get cheap ac in the summer. I also have a wood stove for backup and outages but its a pain to use for heating.

[SkylosSobaka]

My perspective is the capability to use Geothermal/water sink rather than air sink because the ground or a nearby body of water is a much better place to get heat from than the air, particularly when the air is really cold.

[fmills]

How warm should the air be coming out of vent of electric a/c in winter time?

[christineheminger]

The heat pump at the library just blew cold air on me—not what I’m wanting in the winter. It wasn’t like my furnace, which starts with hot air that turns cool for a few seconds at the end of the cycle—just cold air or nothing.

[beverlyj.grevious]

If I need a more efficient unit, I'd appreciate literature for northern NJ, on a river, condo facing east. So when I get it one more thing for the renovation resolved.

[boilshifter]

I was wanting to know if I was to add a plate water heat exchange to the liquid line after the outside unit if it would help with efficiency.. or lower head pressure..

[thenexthobby]

Mike needs to discover what companies like Mitsubishi and Fujitsu achieve ... hint: Things far better than the American brands that can't engineer efficiencies if their lives depended on it.

[sugdaddy]

I have a heat pump at my mothers house and it also has electric heat. We live in Texas where it doesn’t really drop below 32 much and if does it’s only at night. I prefer gas but if that’s not an option heat pumps are great it’s a lot cheaper than running your electric heats for sure. But when it gets to below freezing the don’t work well so we use the electric heat. So in conclusion heat pumps are nice but if it was an option I would of just got gas furnace

[sfl]

Mike there is a heat pump coming out and the engineer lives in Montreal, it’s in the stages of approval and supposed to change our lives big time.

[cosmological]

In other words you need to buy another heater because the heat pump will never produce enough heat