What are the chances that TESLA will enter the market as Elon Musk has previously mentioned deep interests in Home heating/cooling before
Launch HN: Electric Air (YC W23) – Heat pump sold directly to homeowners
481–490 of 809 posts
Re: Launch HN: Electric Air (YC W23) – Heat pump sold directly to homeowners
#482I'm currently sitting on a home with a basement open with no heater, and trying to find a contractor to install an all-electric heat pump. I'd love to be your customer but I worked in hardware and just don't see you hitting delivery times, and I can't wait that long. For those of us who can't wait, If you were to buy a ducted heat pump today, which brand would you go with? Who is the best of the worst?
If you need something today, Mitsubishi or Daikin, and for ducted specifically, Mitsubishi.
Re: Launch HN: Electric Air (YC W23) – Heat pump sold directly to homeowners
#483Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I'm gonna invest in a heat pump for the long term, I don't want it committed to any software technology that may be obsolete in 10 years. I want it to use something so dead stupid simple that anything in 50 years can still operate it without a lot of work. The simplest example I can think of is MIME ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIME ). It can be embedded in basically any transport type. It can encode anything y…
I agree on the point of not wanting to end up with a brick due to obsolete software. Note though that heat pumps typically last 10-20 years.
What happens to them after 20 years?
Re: Launch HN: Electric Air (YC W23) – Heat pump sold directly to homeowners
#484Earlier quoted context omitted.
We did. We had more insulation blown into our attic (it gets crazy hot up there) and we are now looking for new windows.
actually i'll advise you to take a look at temperature of your walls. both inside and outside. they have a bunch of thermal mass. during the summer they effectively heat the air inside the house. unless you manage to cool walls somewhat (lets say during night), hvac will have to really fight to keep temperature down. I live in bay area and I installed whole house fan which is typically runs through the night at summe…
Our walls are good but our windows are a weak point.
During summer, the night temperature drops to the low 90’s here. It’s A/C all day, every day, for at least 3 months.
Any idea why the HVAC guy and just about every source online insists that A/C can only give you a temperature delta of 20F? I know it can’t be true, but that claim is everywhere.
Re: Launch HN: Electric Air (YC W23) – Heat pump sold directly to homeowners
#485Chris, great and i love that you're working on this. We need more heatpumps in this world! Any chance there's a solution coming for people with hydronic systems? We have a house in rural Ontario that has in-floor hydronic in the basement and hydronic radiators upstairs too. We'd love to get off propane, but there are virtually zero options without us installing ducts (which due to the German wood-frame design is very…
Re: Launch HN: Electric Air (YC W23) – Heat pump sold directly to homeowners
#486Where's your product made? Is it a US built product?
Re: Launch HN: Electric Air (YC W23) – Heat pump sold directly to homeowners
#487In Norway most homes have one or more heat pumps. We are living in a cold climate and the pumps are being used like 9-10 months a year. The most common brands are Japanese: Toshiba, Mitsubishi and Panasonic. I will not agree that the user experience is bad at all. They are very good products. Stand alone they work well and with integration they work together with the power company to optimize the energy consumption v…
They are UGLY though...
It really depends. Old hot water radiators were ugly in their own way. Even with modern forced air HVAC I find the soffits and boxes to accommodate ductwork unsightly.
Some brands make units that interface with existing radiant baseboards, or individual heat pump heads that recess entirely into the ceiling leaving just a vent visible, like https://mylinkdrive.com/USA/M_Series/R410A_Systems-1/One_Way...
Re: Launch HN: Electric Air (YC W23) – Heat pump sold directly to homeowners
#488I live in Seattle, which has strict noise requirements for heat pump units, and will absolutely ensure you are compliant. The electric air website mentions a db measurement, but it's not clear if that's the external or internal unit's noise level. Might be worth clarifying that.
Re: Launch HN: Electric Air (YC W23) – Heat pump sold directly to homeowners
#489How will you compete with Goodman/Daikin and needing lineset runs with usually high voltage work and panel upgrades that sometimes come with converting to a heat pump. If you don't use 24V AC controls i don't think it would take off with any installers and you seriously limit and then hinder yourself needing way more customer support. What refrigerants are you considering as there is more environmental stuff coming o…
24V controls: Any inverter heat pump will run best with a communicating thermostat. We can make efficiency sacrifices to run the system on 24V controls, but it would not be my recommended setup.
Refrigerants: this is largely dictated by compressor availability. At this point it looks like R454B is the winner (GWP 467)
You're right about new construction builders wanting whatever is cheapest. They don't bear the cost of ownership, so there's very little incentive to go for efficient equipment. Doing replacements on oil is great! The monthly savings when moving from electric resistance, propane and fuel oil are huge.
Connectivity - system runs fine standalone without any internet connection.
If you decide to get in the heat pump game come say hi at the next AHR expo!
Re: Launch HN: Electric Air (YC W23) – Heat pump sold directly to homeowners
#490Earlier quoted context omitted.
I mean, they estimate $10k for installation, so you are calling an HVAC company and having them install a heat pump system. It's not clear to me from the website if the idea is that they are actually integrating installation in-house or if they will contract out the work, in which case it's likely the exact same installers as if you ordered a system from somewhere like Home Depot.
Well, at least the ones that agree to work with it. For example, the most reputable HVAC company I can find locally has picked their favorite 1-2 brands and largely only installs those, so they know what they're bound to be repairing later.
They also tend to only install units that you can't buy directly and only quote for total cost not parts and labor so you cannot easily tell just how much they are charging for the labor.