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Heat pumps twice as efficient as fossil fuel systems in cold weather, study finds (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/technology@beehaw.org
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https://www.cell.com/joule/fulltext/S2542-4351(23)00351-3

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[–] 16 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (5 children)

The only downside (in comparison to fuel burners) is complexity. Heat pump systems are extremely complex with a lot of parts that could get fucked up over time.

A gas furnace is as simple as it gets with almost no moving parts. Coal/wood furnaces are a bit more complicated if you don't want to blow 100% of the emissions into the air... you need good well maintained filter systems. But it's still far less complex than a heat pump.

So I understand the appeal of furnaces. Simpler systems are easier to understand, are harder to break and easier to repair/maintain.

I think that problem is tackled too rarely in these articles. If you can't take away the fear that people will have a higher upfront invest and higher maintenance costs and higher failure risk, that makes it too convenient to cling to what they know and understand.

Edit: oven --> furnace

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  • [–] 27 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    Eh, I think you might think heat pumps are more complicated than they are. I think they're about as complicated as a furnace. At the end of the day, in both your just pumping a gas from one place to another, changing the state of the gas, and then running that past air to heat or cool it.

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  • [–] 6 points 3 years ago

    It depends. The most basic implementation of a heat pump is basically an AC system with a reversal valve.

    To be fair to the previous commenter, the air conditioning system of an air handler (aka furnace), is usually one of the more complicated parts of the system.

    The issue is that even air conditioning systems are getting rather complex, with multi-speed or continuously variable speed systems... which add significant complexity.... meanwhile adding a reversal valve to a continuously variable system easily makes it far more complex than any other system that's integrated into the air handler.

    I'll also note that heat pumps come in many different shapes and sizes, some are mini split systems, others are geothermal bohemouths, and some are air-exchange systems to be integrated into an air handler (aka furnace). The most efficient heat pumps are usually the geothermal kind, which are pretty easily the most complex; air exchange heat pumps are basically just AC systems with a reversal valve.... they all have their challenges though...

    It's just, a much deeper topic than saying that it's strictly more, less, or the same level of complexity as something else, since from the start, the term "heat pump" represents an entire class of diverse devices... the same can be said about a furnace or just about any heating system... some are extremely simple while others make my HVAC guy cry out for someone to make it make sense. YMMV.

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  • [–] 16 points 3 years ago (2 children)

    Heat pumps dont replace gas ovens. They replace central heating systems. They are not that much more complex then a central heating system and come with a lot fewer safety concerns. And heat pumps are not new technology - they are just AC units that can run in reverse to heat instead of cool. We already know how well they work and how often they fail and a lot of the world is already reliant on them just as much as others are reliant on gas central heating.

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