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.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    11 months ago

    This is not a myth but a fact, heat pumps don’t work at extreme cold temperatures.
    What temperature exactly depends on the coolant used.

    The efficiency also degrades at lower temperatures.

    This is a random example of first hit I got on a heat pump.
    https://heatnow.dk/produkt/altech-sirius-9-varmepumpe/

    Notice the effect drops dramatically below -20 C°.

    But this is a pump sold for the Scandinavian market, therefore it is of course designed to work at low temperatures. It doesn’t state the minimum, but I’m guessing it would be around -40 C°. Which is very good compared top older models.

    • AA5B@lemmy.worldEnglish
      21·
      11 months ago

      But that’s not sufficient. As the temperature gets colder, it’s not just less efficient but produces much less heat. At the lower temperatures, it may not be able to keep up. Since it would be wasteful most of the year, heat pumps aren’t sized for that