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Heat pumps can't take the cold? Nordics debunk the myth (techxplore.com)

submitted 1 year ago by L4s to c/technology

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Heat pumps can't take the cold? Nordics debunk the myth::By installing a heat pump in his house in the hills of Oslo, Oyvind Solstad killed three birds with one stone, improving his comfort, finances and climate footprint.

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[–] Magister 49 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It depends on the model (and the price), I'm in Québec where we have -30°C (-22F) about every winter, my heatpump is mid-range, and works fine until -20C (-4F) so 95% of the time. It is set to 23C (73F) and it's between 21-23 everywhere in the house. The electric baseboard are set to 21C (70F) as backup.

So yeah, heat pumps can works great in winter, no problem.

Also as written in the article, with defrosting and variable speed compressors, it is very efficient. Mine is Energy Star compliant, and act as air conditionner in summer.

[+] NightAuthor -12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Makes sense to me that they could theoretically work all the way down to near 0 kelvin, just depends on their efficiency. Just so long as there is heat to be had…

Also, not sure energy star really means much.

[–] applebusch 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They theoretically could, but the coefficient of performance would go below 1 long before you get close to zero Kelvin. That means it would cost more energy to pump the heat than is pumped, so you'd be better off using an electric heater.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Not to mention, you’d need a material to pump. R-32 which I believe is the most common at the moment, has a freezing temp of -132, meaning it would be useless at temps near 1K.

[–] NightAuthor -1 points 1 year ago

Ah yes... that's a very good point. I'm not about to learn a bunch of chemistry and physics and stuff.... but I'd be interested in reading about this theoretical optimization if electricity was free, there was no gravity, friction was 0, etc etc etc.