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.
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.
It really depends on the type of heat pump. Air-sourced heat pumps generally don’t produce heat below -30C and below -10C they generally lose enough efficiency that you’re better off using electric baseboard heating.
My air sourced heat pump keeps my house warm just fine in the Finnish winter where temperatures of -30C aren’t unheard of. I’m not exactly sure how it works, but I assume there’s coils that’ll produce the heat by electricity if nececcary, making it at worst as efficient as direct electric heating, which is what I’d use otherwise. Here like every other house has a heatpump like that and I don’t remember hearing anyone ever complaining that they’re not working.
I think mine is undersized and close to 20 years old now. Reading your response is yet another reason I have to go through with upgrading everything.
Generally you’d have a backup heat source with an air-to-air heat pump for those really cold days like -15C and colder, like a gas furnace or a heating element unit inside (like with electrical coils). Air-to-air heat pumps are more efficient on warmer days, on colder days they would be less efficient but you’d still have a backup heat source so it would still “work”, so the article is still somewhat correct in that sense.
Also, electric baseboard heaters can be quite a bit louder than forced-air systems with a heat pump, so you’d still be better off with a heat pump in those cases.