I find all this fear mongering about heatpumps in the US currently to be a little odd, because they've been popular in some cold countries in Europe for some time. If there was going to be a problem, there would already have been a problem.
Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback
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Re: Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback
#22I worry about the 'futureproofness' of heat pumps. Specifically, heat pumps use more energy on cold days. They use a massive amount more energy on the coldest days. Today, if you use double the electricity, it costs double the money. Thats affordable as long as it happens rarely. But, with lots of people getting EV's and heat pumps, and the generation mix getting more wind and solar, I forsee energy companies forcing…
Retrofit market is still huge, especially in Maine where people mostly Don’t have natural gas connections and therefore don’t have a monthly standby charge for that.
When you already have a Woodstove, pellet stove, oil heat or propane heat for the cold snaps, yeah, the economics really pushes in favour there.
Re: Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
For 'enthusiasts', a dual heat source system is a good plan. But regular folk want to just pay the energy bill and have a warm home, whatever the weather outside. They don't care to worry about lighting the wood stove on super cold days. They don't want to have to have a wood delivery separate from their energy bill, and be carting it around in boxes. They don't want to huddle into the room with the wood stove becaus…
There is no modern system that "just works" whatever the weather. We had an ice storm when I was growing up and lost power for 3 days. Wood stove worked great as a backup, not much else would have.
Why wouldn't a gas furnace have worked?
Re: Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback
#24There was a thread [0] on /r/Maine in the aftermath of the extreme cold snap last weekend, when outdoor temps dropped into the negative double digits, where people chimed in on how their heat pumps held up. By and large, they confirmed that the manufacturers' claims are correct -- they do keep working (albeit less efficiently) down to the rated temperatures and in some cases even below. The winning strategy, at least…
Here in NH it took a while to get warm but it worked. And it was cold enough the generator didn’t start. Which obviously made having a second source of heat in the interim important.
Re: Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no modern system that "just works" whatever the weather. We had an ice storm when I was growing up and lost power for 3 days. Wood stove worked great as a backup, not much else would have.
Dual source heatpump + Solar + battery + propane generator might be OK. The batteries would need to somehow be kept warm though. (The solar and battery are there to stretch out the propane supply until the delivery truck gets past whatever road blockages exist, and then addresses the inevitable shortage cause by the electricity going out.) Of course, an 80% efficient wood stove costs a small fraction as much as the a…
> The batteries would need to somehow be kept warm though.
If I were buying such a setup, I'd just put the batteries in the basement. Plenty of space, and it stays 40-50°ish year-round here.
Re: Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback
#26Heat pumps are obviously great but the enthusiasm for regulating Green technology into housing design seems to me to trade the interests of the poor for the interests of the upper middle class.
Re: Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback
#27Frankly the best and most entertaining, overly detailed and nerdy discussion of heat pumps is on this YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/7J52mDjZzto
heat pumps are one of the best examples for science = magic.
Re: Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback
#28My dad is a retired heat and power engineer up in Maine (20something years at a paper mill). We probably spent half of Christmas talking about his new minisplit. He has been tracking his electricity bill and heating oil bills in spreadsheets for years. He still has the old oil boiler in place for emergencies, but as far as I know he hasn't had to use it yet this year. He said he wanted more data before he made a definitive statement about the savings, but initial results seemed pretty promising even in the cold spells we've had
Re: Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no modern system that "just works" whatever the weather. We had an ice storm when I was growing up and lost power for 3 days. Wood stove worked great as a backup, not much else would have.
Dual source heatpump + Solar + battery + propane generator might be OK. The batteries would need to somehow be kept warm though. (The solar and battery are there to stretch out the propane supply until the delivery truck gets past whatever road blockages exist, and then addresses the inevitable shortage cause by the electricity going out.) Of course, an 80% efficient wood stove costs a small fraction as much as the a…
Too bad few backup generators have the capability of dumping their heat output into the home via coolant loops or exhaust heat capture.
Re: Heat pumps are defying Maine’s winters and oil industry pushback
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no modern system that "just works" whatever the weather. We had an ice storm when I was growing up and lost power for 3 days. Wood stove worked great as a backup, not much else would have.
Why wouldn't a gas furnace have worked?
Gas/Oil Furnaces/Boilers still need electricity to run the blower (air into the firebox) and circulator (hot air/water from the unit to the rooms) motors.