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Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

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Re: Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

#111

Post by wtallis »

demondemidi wrote: post #101
TheBlight wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How well do they function? Do they provide nice consistent heat? How's the noise? Sorry to clog up HN with a random request of a product quality review but I'm in the market right now to replace my furnace as well. Thanks.

Heat pumps need to come with an electric heater because pumps stop working below 30 deg F.

They come with an electric heater, but they don't stop working until far below freezing point. It's normal for a heat pump to still be better than pure resistive electric heating even at 10°F.

Re: Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

#112

Post by twiceaday »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #93
readingnews wrote: post #86

I just replaced a furnace... everyone I called for a quote would not touch a heat pump with a 20foot pole, or they wanted prices that were 2X what a separate furnace and AC would cost to install. It was very strange. This is the second home where I had this experience.. basically, they really did not want to install it. I ended up going with gas as no local person would install/warranty a heat pump, or, it was priced…

wait I didn't know I could replace my AC with a heat pump, can I replace my noisy AF condenser that's always grinding and hissing or do heat pumps make the same noises

No, it's actually worse. The heat pump will make that same compressor noise when cooling in the summer AND heating in the winter.

Re: Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

#113

Post by headsupernova »

demondemidi wrote: post #101
TheBlight wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How well do they function? Do they provide nice consistent heat? How's the noise? Sorry to clog up HN with a random request of a product quality review but I'm in the market right now to replace my furnace as well. Thanks.

Heat pumps need to come with an electric heater because pumps stop working below 30 deg F.

This isn't true, the latest models work at temps far below that. There are still thresholds where you'd want another source, but they're very functional even in the upper Midwest.

Re: Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

#114

Post by nostromo »

I have mixed feelings about our heat pump system.

Yes, it's efficient. But it breaks about once every other year. Last winter the compressor circuit board malfunctioned and cost $5k to fix. Two years ago it was another issue entirely.

All of our savings have been lost to service calls. I'm not super price sensitive, but it's still a pain when the heat goes out in the middle of winter and all the service techs are booked up.

This is a Daikin system, which I thought was a pretty standard, respected brand. But like a lot of things built today, it just wasn't built to last.

If we ever have to replace it, we're going to have to rip open half of the house to remove the heating lines. It'll be a nightmare.

I had a heat pump water heater at our previous home, and the compressor also broke after a few years. We just operated it as an old-fashioned electric water heater after that because it would cost more to fix than it would to replace. And both sounded like a pain.

Re: Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

#115

Post by nsguy »

yellow_postit wrote: post #102

moved from oil furnace to heat pump in Seattle (with electric strip backup) Seems like a perfect fit for our weather patterns but was definitely not the most economical option as it kicked off a domino effect of upgrades I wasn't missing before. Its no where near as "cozy" as the oil heat was, and the temperature of airing coming from the vents is significantly lower than the oil system. So the domino of upgrades is…

I did the same in Vancouver, BC. We took advantage of incentives to improve our insulation and to make the switch. E.g. we just fixed our crawl space.

The heat pump did struggle a little during the more extreme cold weather we saw a few weeks back (going down to -15C) but we've kept our natural gas fireplace as backup and "assist".

I'm pretty sure it's a little more expensive to run with a heat pump, so you need to be willing to pay more for reducing your carbon footprint. The incentives do help though. Similar to switching to an EV which we also did for similar reasons. I think if you're purely looking at $$$ then it's not necessarily the optimal decision.

Re: Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

#116

Post by throwup238 »

Tarrosion wrote: post #85
moribvndvs wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had one for three years. While I generally love it, it cools too fast, which means it sucks at removing humidity, actually increases it a little. The installer over-provisioned.

I've heard this before -- that oversized cooling units (whether standalone AC or part of a heat pump) mean muggy interiors in the humid seasons. But...why? I'd think that a fixed amount of air compressed in the compressor means a fixed amount of condensation runoff from the unit, and it wouldn't matter much whether it's a big unit running occasionally or a small unit running frequently. Why is that wrong?

It's not a fixed amount of condensation because the air around the AC only has so much humidity. It quickly condenses just a little bit of water and then shuts off before the humidity in the rest of the house can redistribute to replace the now dry air. By running for longer it allows the water in the rest of the house to actually make it to the compressor.

Re: Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

#117

Post by Siecje »

david422 wrote: post #60

I recently got heat pumps in the hopes that I could phase out my oil furnace. What I can say so far is: The temperature is wildly inconsistent. I don't know if this is a software issue, a hardware issue, or just the way heatpumps work. I've had the installer come back and look at it, I've had the heat pump rep come and look at it too. They basically checked everything and tried to convince me this is normal. With oil…

8 degrees is not normal+/- 1 C is what I experience.

Re: Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

#118

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS »

demondemidi wrote: post #101
TheBlight wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How well do they function? Do they provide nice consistent heat? How's the noise? Sorry to clog up HN with a random request of a product quality review but I'm in the market right now to replace my furnace as well. Thanks.

Heat pumps need to come with an electric heater because pumps stop working below 30 deg F.

Ground source heat pumps are available that go down significantly lower than 30F. They are more expensive. Though running the electric wires is also very expensive due to their inefficiency. Typical heat pumps are often better suited for warmer climates because of this

It also appears that the tech for the more typical air source heat pumps has improved significantly in recent years which makes it more viable for colder climates

Re: Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

#119

Post by nostrademons »

subsubzero wrote: post #84
herpdyderp wrote: post #5

The states listed are: - California - Colorado - Maine - Maryland - Massachusetts - New Jersey - New York - Oregon - Rhode Island

Interestingly enough, That list of states besides Colorado and Maine all were the biggest losers of population in 2023, meaning people are leaving these states. - California -0.9 - Maryland -0.5 - Massachusetts -0.6 - New Jersey -0.5 - New York -1.1 - Oregon -0.1 - Rhode Island -0.3

Largely because that's the list of places where housing is super expensive:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_median_home_price

  #2 California    $554K
  #3 Massachusetts $422K
  #5 Colorado.     $397K
  #6 Oregon        $361K
  #8 New Jersey    $335K
  #9 New York      $322K
  #10 Maryland     $308K
  #13 Rhode Island $300K
  #25 Maine        $242K
And where income is highest:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_income

  #1  Maryland      $90K
  #2  Massachusetts $89K
  #3  New Jersey    $89K
  #5  California    $85K
  #9  Colorado      $82K
  #14 New York      $74K
  #15 Rhode Island  $74K
  #18 Oregon        $71K
  #32 Maine         $64K
People are moving out because it's desirable to live there and hence there's a lot of competition for housing. If you're not one of the top earners in the state, you can increase your relative standard of living by moving somewhere where it's cheaper.

Re: Nine US states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of heat pumps

#120

Post by ericd »

lolinder wrote: post #100
jazzyjackson wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wait I didn't know I could replace my AC with a heat pump, can I replace my noisy AF condenser that's always grinding and hissing or do heat pumps make the same noises

A heat pump is just an air conditioner that can be run in reverse. Replacing your air conditioner might help if it makes the noise because it's old and broken, but if you just really dislike the sound of an air conditioner it probably won't help much.

The variable speed inverter ones tend to be much quieter than the old single-stage ones that most people have, fwiw.
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