Heat Pumps

What brought on this the idea for this thread? :)
 
What brought on this the idea for this thread? :)

Just thought that video was a good summary of the state of play in the market.

If you stop burning stuff, do you buy one these? Are they useless? They are loud (ASHP), although they promise newer ones are quieter...

Bobbyllew had a video about a Dutch housing development where ever four houses or so, share a GSHP.

High tech or snake oil?
 
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Just thought that video was a good summary of the state of play in the market.

If you stop burning stuff, do you buy one these? Are they useless? They are loud (ASHP), although they promise newer ones are quieter...

Bobbyllew had a video about a Dutch housing development where ever four houses or so, share a GSHP.

High tech or snake oil?

When I was in school in 2011-2014 for my job, they talked about heat pumps being the new hot thing and how awesome they will be. Back then though, they weren't good for places that have cold winters such as the chicago area and farther North. Now they've gotten, but they still lose their efficiency the colder it gets. That's not to say they're bad, just don't expect the same quick heating times at say -25C compared a more mild -5 day.

Still though, I'd like to get some to supplement heating on more mild days and finally have central A/C.
 
Installation is critical. Must have one contractor responsible for whole installation.

The thing about having to get bigger radiators and install under floor heating seems a bit of a waste. With good insulation, you might not need them.

Wonder if solar and batteries will eventually be cheaper.
 
Installation is critical. Must have one contractor responsible for whole installation.

The thing about having to get bigger radiators and install under floor heating seems a bit of a waste. With good insulation, you might not need them.

Wonder if solar and batteries will eventually be cheaper.
thats the thing over here as well, that switching to a heat pump really works out best with a well-insulated house with low-temperature-heating (as you say: large radiators, under floor, wall heating or central a/c with heat).
but since Germany has a quite well insulated housing stock (see below), in parts with existing under floor heating, as well as mostly comparatively mild winters, heat pumps are getting very common. And also much quieter, yes.
The low efficiency in cold temps is also slowly getting better, but looking at the time the thing has to actually work at those, the low efficiency doesn’t matter much. theres also always a resistive heater to help in those situations (ofc making efficiency worse).

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Cheaper batteries would also help ofc… but tbh solar is already ridiculously cheap (from Wikipedia):
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