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This is outdatated nonsense, I had my system installed 10 years ago and it works down to -15F... even the cheap $1k systems on Amazon work below freezing now Like any piece of equipment, just check the specs before you buy...
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I live in the mid-Atlantic (US) climate zone, where it's certainly not as cold as the north but definitely goes well below freezing regularly for several months of the year. The place I've lived for 15 years had a heat pump and a (oil) boiler with radiators, and when it was below 40°F (~5°C) I had to switch to the radiators. It's because it's old, everybody told me, modern heat pumps are better! So last year when both systems needed repairs at the same time, I not-entirely-willingly switched to a brand-new 2024-model heat pump. It absolutely could not keep up when the temperature was freezing until they came back and installed resistive heat strips for low temperature---these seem to be a fancy version of the heating elements in a space heater or a toaster. They do not seem to be particularly efficient. And to the extent that my "heat pump system" does now more or less keep the house adequately warm, if not as comfortable as the radiators always could, it's not solely due to the heat pump, but the other stuff they had to put in because the heat pump couldn't keep up.
My experience is far from unique. Maybe it's that they only install the good ones in farther-north locations! Maybe it's that the good ones are just way more expensive! I'm perfectly prepared to believe the factual statements about the physics and the tech. But if we're talking about perception and "why aren't more people looking to install heat pumps", it's because lots of people have experiences like the above, and that is what the industry needs to work on.
I will say, they seem to have gotten more expensive. It took about $10k to replace ours (it was over 20 years old and replacing coolant+fixing was quoted at nearly half that). Even though research suggested it could be more like a $6.5 to $7.5k cost, it was hard to even get people quoting in a timely manner, let alone getting any kind of a deal.
One other challenge is for existing homes a water heater may only have a gas line running to it. Want a heat pump hot water heater? Hiring the electrician alone, not to mention potentially ripping up walls will ruin any economic advantage.
The article has bullet #1 in problems to solve as "Contractors who default to what they know." This was one of my founding hypotheses to and it turns out I was wrong, this was the hardest won learning yet at Quilt. We originally were fully vertically integrated and had our own installation force because of this reason – we wanted to solve all the big problems, thought contractors were one of them, and so had to become a contractor. But we quickly saw we were getting in the way of our own mission to accelerate the energy transition (because we had far far more demand than we could scale operations to reach it). So in March we (initially cautiously) switched partnering with existing contractors and I have been delighted by the industry reception. There are so so many existing contractors who want modern tech and see working with us as a breath of fresh air. I definitely sold them short and in retrospect it was naive and even a little elitist.
Happy to answer anything more. Also I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that we're growing super fast and just posted an Embedded Software Engineer role: https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/quilt/jobs/4952684007 :)
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This is outdatated nonsense, I had my system installed 10 years ago and it works down to -15F... even the cheap $1k systems on Amazon work below freezing now Like any piece of equipment, just check the specs before you buy...
What’s the COP at -15F? It’s probably close to 1, which means you’re paying for resistive heat which happens to be the most expensive possible way to heat something up.
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Cold climate heat pumps have improved a lot, even in the last 10 years. Modern models can maintain comfortable temperatures down to -15F (-26C). Lots of happy customers in this reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/heatpumps/comments/146jg7k/cold_cli...
This would not work in Chicago.
Jan 18, 2016 -21°F Coldest day of that winter
Dec 19, 2016 -21°F Early-season Arctic outbreak
Dec 27, 2017 -19°F Part of a prolonged late-December cold wave
Jan 2, 2018 -23°F Deep freeze to start the year
Jan 30, 2019 -30°F Coldest Chicago temp since 1985; “Polar Vortex” event
Feb 14, 2020 -18°F Valentine’s Day Arctic blast
Feb 7, 2021 -21°F Mid-winter cold snap
Dec 23, 2022 -23°F Pre-Christmas Arctic front
Feb 3, 2023 -17°F Last occurrence to date
edit: downvoted for noticing that it is cold.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is outdatated nonsense, I had my system installed 10 years ago and it works down to -15F... even the cheap $1k systems on Amazon work below freezing now Like any piece of equipment, just check the specs before you buy...
What’s the COP at -15F? It’s probably close to 1, which means you’re paying for resistive heat which happens to be the most expensive possible way to heat something up.
> we’re waiting on people Right on. I have a heat pump water heater and a heat pump heating system in my HVAC. Getting those installed felt like swimming upstream. Most contractors would try to dissuade me from them. Luckily, I found a contractor who was skilled and knowledgeable about heat pumps and rebates (back when govt thought climate change was real). Very happy with my heat pump tech.