×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

HEAT PUMP vs FURNACE/AC
2

HEAT PUMP vs FURNACE/AC

HEAT PUMP vs FURNACE/AC

(OP)
In a cold country like Canada, do heat pumps work in the winter?  
Do heat pumps have any advantage over conventional furnace and air-conditioning systems (for houses).  
A company in Maine manufactures so-called "low-temperature" heat pumps - does anybody have any experience with this line of products?

RE: HEAT PUMP vs FURNACE/AC

Canada's a big place. Any particular region you're concerned with? NWT, Yukon, Maritimes, Prairies, Mountains? Coast? I'll assume you're talking about air-source heat pumps.

The issue with an air-source heat pump is that the colder it is outside, the less capacity is available for heating. Which means, you need a larger and larger heat pump (with electric heating coil).

Likely, this will result in oversizing (with much cycling) in the summer.

A secondary issue is the efficiency of the heat pump (COP). For the sake of argument we'll say that an air-source heat pump is 3x as efficient as a gas-furnace (I would argue this is only true in mild temperatures as the efficiency also drops at very low temperatures). The cost of electricity as a heating source ranges from 1.5X to 4X the cost of natural gas, which frequently will eliminate any cost benefits.

A final issue is that I have never seen an air-source heat pump capable of operating down to my lowest design temperature, I imagine other cold countries would have this issue.

RE: HEAT PUMP vs FURNACE/AC

Often the 'low temperature' feature is an electric heating coil that kicks in when the outdoor temps get too low for the heat pump.

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources