This!

[dgoldsmith@mastodon.social]

RE: https://mastodon.social/@CelloMomOnCars/116250404645592330

This! There is as much disinformation about heat pumps as there is about EVs!

[fwaaron@social.coop]

@dgoldsmith

I live in Minnesota and have a heat pump for our A/C and some of our heating. Newer ones can function in temperatures as low as -15°F. They do not function well enough to be the sole heating source in temperatures anywhere near that low. That's all people need to understand. In all those statistics about people on Norway or Sweden having them, that is not the only heat source. Depending on if one cares about cost effectiveness or emissions, and on energy prices and sources, they are generally recommended for providing heat down to about freezing. If it gets much colder than that with any frequency people need another heat source.

[brahmabelarusian@regenerate.social]

@dgoldsmith Ground source heat pumps no doubt work well long-term but the problem is their up front cost, many of us not having the money for said minimall up front cost of $15,000 nor the credit rating needed to get "financing", about a decade ago I asked what they might cost & was told it'd be over $50,000 which is just ridiculously expensive. Adding more insulation & getting regular heating & cooling devices being far more budgetable.

[mossyfoot@pdx.social]

@BrahmaBelarusian these are air source heat pumps, just ones with very efficient variable compressors, and they are great. I have the two zone system version of the Mitsubishi Mr Slim unit pictured, we've had it for years, and have not had to do a thing to it in terms of serious maintenance or any repair.

If you ever travel to Asia you will see these everywhere. One had been bolted outside of our porthole on a little handmade boat we traveled on in Indonesia.

[brahmabelarusian@regenerate.social]

@mossyfoot okay so for this less efficient than ground source & higher replacement cost system, it'd be $10,000-$15,000 instead of $30,000-60,000 for my home, which still won't ever makeup it's cost & is way too expensive, but at least would put it at under what we paid for the house & property itself.

*Forget traveling to Asia, at this point I doubt I'll ever get a passport again.

[jvschrag@hachyderm.io]

@FWAaron I think your information might be out of date. I live in an area where it regularly goes below -20C in February, and my air-source cold climate heat pump has no trouble at all keeping my house toasty warm. I do have an alternative heat source, but I’ve never had to turn it on. The technology has really been improving over the last decade.

@dgoldsmith

[alsopaisleycat@tenforward.social]

@FWAaron @dgoldsmith

They are good up to -25 C which is good enough for most of us.

Heat pumps make sense in Yukon, says researcher involved with monitoring program | CBC News

A multi-year monitoring program of heat pumps recently wrapped up in the Yukon. While the findings have not yet been released, one of the researchers involved says the technology works as intended.

CBC (www.cbc.ca)

[fwaaron@social.coop]

@jvschrag

They are getting better and better. I have not heard of anyone using solely a heat pump for temperatures quite that cold but I suppose if you get one powerful enough compared to the size of your home than mine it will work. I do know where I live absolutely no contractor would install one as a sole heat source because in an average winter it does get around or past the absolute threshold of when a heat pump will work a few days. So my system was not planned as the sole heat source, so when it does get as cold as you mention, it will run but can't keep the house particularly warm. Also at those temps the cost or emissions efficiency comes into play if one cares about that.

[csstrowbridge@mastodon.social]

@AlsoPaisleyCat @FWAaron @dgoldsmith

I was about to talk about the same study.