Heat Pumps: the Future of Home Heating

Highly recommend the YouTube channel 'Technology Connections' videos on heat pumps: ▶ this video link link link

His whole channel (called Technology Connections) is probably my favorite one on YouTube, can’t recommend it enough! My favorites are his series on refrigeration and heat pumps, for example this one: ▶ this video Edit: to clarify, this article is based on an old Technology Connections video, and the creator of that video has lots more!

They are a very efficient way to get both AC and Heating: ▶ this video link Unless you live in a cold climate, they are worth it for a discounted energy bill =3

This guy[0] has done quite a few deep dives on heat pumps that cover a lot of the myths (eg they don't work in the cold). It's pretty interesting material if you're thinking about a heat pump. It has always seemed silly to me that we spend money to keep a box of cold (fridge) inside the houses we're spending money to heat in the winter and spend a lot of money to heat up dryers, stoves, etc in the houses we're spending money to cool in the summer. Watching these videos made me think there's a real possibility at some point to have something like a whole home heat pump that just moves heat from where it is to where you want it and in the process reduces the need for systems working against each other to heat/cool specific parts of the house. I understand there's something in commercial settings that has this capability but I'm blanking on the name. 0: ▶ this video 1: link

The wording is bad. It’s moved the equivalent of that energy. Technology connections did a good video on this. ▶ this video

He made several excellent videos explaining residential heat pumps: [2021-02-28] ▶ this video "Heat Pumps: the Future of Home Heating" (35m14s) [2021-04-01] link "Ground Source / Geothermal Heat Pumps and Other Info" (28m03s) [2022-03-26] link "Why Heat Pumps are Immensely Important Right Now" (21m02s) [2022-04-13] link "Heat Pumps are Not Hard: Here's what it will take to start pumping" (46m32s)

It feels obligatory to reference Technology Connection in a thread about heat pumps. TC is a super fun YouTube channel that digs j to everyday technology and has had a number of episodes on heat pumps and modern thermodynamic management challenges and technologies. ▶ this video

They are great if you are looking to use electricity to heat because they are 3 to 4 times more efficient than resistive heaters. It depends on the price of electricity and other heat sources in your area. If you live in the north where temperatures go below -15 Celsius, air-to-air units aren't as great because they lose efficiency as it gets colder outside. My heat pump has a COP of 3, meaning it can generate as much heat as a resistive heater using 1/3 the electricity, but it shuts off at -15 Celsius because below that point it is less efficient than resistive heat. If your heat pump has a COP of 4, you might get to -25 Celsius before it is less efficient than a resistive heater. Better, but more costly, heat pumps use in-ground water, either from a pair of wells, or from a deep pond that won't freeze to the bottom, or from many meters of water pipe buried deep enough beneath your lawn to not freeze in the winter. Because of the depth, they always have access to the earth's heat so they don't lose efficiency in the winter. The Technology Connections YT channel has a couple of good videos about how them: 1. ▶ this video 2. link

I feel like it's almost a requirement to take this opportunity to share Technology Connections great video [1] on the topic. Personally, I've used a heat pump as the sole heating unit for my house for the past 6 years or so. There have been a few cases where I've opted to use an extra blanket, but overall the results have been pretty impressive, and the cost savings are pretty huge. (Apartment, so no fuel heat, it's electric or nothing) [1] ▶ this video

Technology connections did a great video on heat pumps. ▶ this video One of the best things is that is an air conditioner you run in reverse to get some heating.

Thankfully, you are wrong about that! Just like you don't need a cooler source _from which to source cold_ in the summer with AC. Technology Connections has a fun (well, to me) video on how heat pumps work and are great. Literally just AC units running in reverse, thanks to having a valve. ▶ this video

There are highly efficient heat pump powered water heaters, going out anywhere remote, these and other heat pump systems should really be used. This is a really great overview ▶ this video