Heat Pumps Efficiency

The cluster centers on advocating for heat pumps as a highly efficient alternative to resistive electric heating for home heating and cooling, correcting misconceptions and discussing their performance in cold weather.

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#1360
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Keywords

PNW AFAIK RT US SEER FTW AC SEER2 hvacdirect.com CDN heat heat pump heat pumps pumps pump heating efficiency gas cold air

Sample Comments

goethes_kind Sep 9, 2023 View on HN

Just guessing but maybe heat pumps have a lower max power rating, so that you'd need better insulation to reach a desired temperature during colder days.

speedgoose Apr 4, 2020 View on HN

It's better to use heat pumps.

kragen Jan 9, 2024 View on HN

yes, that's correct, but heat pumps do much better than that, as explained downthread

hypertele-Xii Sep 18, 2022 View on HN

This trope is getting tired, heat pumps exist.

lorenzhs Jul 19, 2021 View on HN

Heat pumps are far more efficient than resistive heating, so this wouldn't be economical.

Ekaros Sep 3, 2024 View on HN

You probably want heat pumps instead for heating...

evanelias Dec 25, 2022 View on HN

If I understand correctly, it's the lack of a heat pump.

icebraining Aug 13, 2018 View on HN

Electric heat pumps are quite efficient, AFAIK.

sudosysgen Feb 21, 2022 View on HN

It's not even correct. It's much more efficient to use a heat pump.

pedrocr Feb 23, 2021 View on HN

The explanation of needing to pre-heat the air into the heat pump is strange. Modern A/C systems can pump heat at 500%+ efficiency even with very cold outside temperatures, no pre-heating needed. Replacing that with resistances is a 5x or more reduction in efficiency. That heat pump doesn't seem to have an outside unit so may be less efficient but it would need to be very poor to go down to only 100%. Installing a proper A/C system would provide both much higher efficiency heating