Oxford study proves heat pumps triumph over fossil fuels in the cold::Published Monday in the scientific journal Joule, the research found that heat pumps are two to three times more efficient than their oil and gas counterparts, specifically in temperatures ranging from 10 C to -20 C.
Theres different technology but there are some that can function to -32° F and they often have a feature that allows them to detect when theyre frozen up and defrost and then automatically switch back to heating
Mine has a defrost cycle but it doesn’t work very well. But then again, it’s use case is primarily AC - it only gets frigid temps in my area every couple years. EDIT: yes, downvote me for stating my own personal experience, asshats.
This comment section is a trip. Any time anyone is like “I have reservations about my own heat pump” and people are just responding with downvotes and “no”
A lot of people also don’t understand that a heat pump is still heating your home, even though the air it blows might be a bit lower than your body temperature, so it feels “cool.” When that happens people assume it has stopped working and switch to aux heat. This is one of the major reasons people insist that heat pumps don’t work in the cold, even though they still have plenty of capacity margin to heat the dwelling.
My old system was actually set up so that it would pulse the electric aux heater every few minutes or so to help prevent this “drafty” feeling, and to extend the time between defrost cycles.
Many parts of Canada will regularly see colder than -40F, so I can sympathize easily with a view that solely relying on them might not be safe in that environment.
Tbf, most Canadians don’t live in those areas. Places like Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver rarely get that cold.
Edmonton Saskatoon Regina Winnipeg
As a Canadian who doesn’t live in the GTA it drives me nuts when people dismiss the rest of Canada as some kind of statistical outlier undeserving of acknowledgement.
It’s fine. We use geothermal heat pumps with the lines buried below the frost line. (6-8 feet below the surface.) I know quite a few houses and even a few factories (30,000 square feet+) that use them in temps that drop well below -30c to -40c without any issues.
The initial setup cost is a fair bit more because of having to bury the lines, but after that they’re fine.