Why aren't we all using heat pumps?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 มิ.ย. 2024
- Heat pumps are kind of amazing. So why are we not all using them? Turns out it's a bit complicated.
Huge thanks to Michael from @distilled-earth for stepping in for me!
Why I am taking some time off: • An update and some hap...
REFERENCES
1. • How we stop cement rui...
2. www.ren21.net/the-renewables-...
3. www.iea.org/energy-system/bui...
4. ourworldindata.org/grapher/ca...
5. heatpumpingtechnologies.org/p...
6. www.nature.com/articles/s4146...
7. www.iea.org/reports/fossil-fu...
8. www.spglobal.com/marketintell...
9. www.desmog.com/2023/07/27/fos...
10. www.rewiringamerica.org/circu...
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Music by Epidemic Sound: nebula.tv/epidemic
Some stock footage courtesy of Getty.
Edited by Luke Negus.
This video essay examines why heat pumps are so great and why we aren't all using heat pumps. Are heat pumps a climate solution? How do heat pumps work? Why are heat pumps so expensive? Can we all use heat pumps? How have powerful fossil fuel lobbies prevented the wider uptake of heat pumps? All these questions and more are addressed in this video from Michael from the TH-cam channel Distilled.
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I've had a heat pump for 2 years. I live in a poorly insulated1910s terraced house. Our radiators were old and in need of replacing anyway and so we installed traditional looking column rads that are a bit deeper than normal rads and so have a higher output without taking up more wall space. We can run the flow temperature relatively low and we have noticed savings on our bill and the house is warm enough in winter. We will be gradually insulating the house internally over time and so comfort and costs should only improve.
I was wondering how it would heat the home, would you need a unit for each room? You've answered my question before it was asked, thankyou.
A good breakdown of the issue. Often, it's not about making a new technology, it's about pushing through the political and economic barriers (often mostly imposed by the companies invested in the incumbent technology you're trying to replace) to use a better technology we already have available.
heat pumps are straight up magic, and if you combine them into a cold district heating system theyre probably one most amazing things
Heat pumps is one of those things where when you hear how efficient it is, you think it is some perpetual motion scam.
Its just crazy to me that it actually works, even though I understand the physics behind it.
Imagine telling a medival peasant that you can heat your home with outside air even if the outside air is colder than the inside.
@@PhilfreezeCH itll certainly be interesting seeing the two ways they can improve, either they get better at being able to pull those little bits of heat from cold air, maybe we find some refrigerant that can readily get to -100c
or you just do cold district heating where your source temperature is always like 20c so you just try pump the hell out of the efficiency
@@vincentgrinn2665Pumping heat from -100C is very impractical because energy efficiency gets lower with growing temperature difference between hot and cold sides. Thats why district heating systems with geothermal cold sources are the future
Why it is literally just moving energy around? We already move electrical energy around, thermal energy isn't much different physically..
I wonder why excess heat from cities that end up in rivers is not harnessed using heat pumps for district heating. The UK Houses of Parliament is being renovated and it would be brilliant if it was heated with the river Thames
In 1999, in my primary school in Norway, we learned about heat pumps and how good they are for the climate
I love heatpumps, ever since seeing the technology connections videos on them, I've wondered why we don't have a subsidy for them the same we do with solar (unless we do, and I'm just bad at reading the UK government website)
Just thought I'd post this link here for you to peruse 'cause I think it's what you're looking for :D : www.gov.uk/apply-boiler-upgrade-scheme
there is a subsidy for heat pump installation >> gov.uk/apply-boiler-upgrade-scheme/what-you-can-get
in germany we get about 40-60% subsidies on them, and often you can get cheaper credits or deals in combination with solar panels or building insulation too.
they're still underused because the lobby and politics against them is so strong. It's absolutely stupid. I see a lot of new houses using hybrid or pellet heating systems instead of this wonder of a technology
Yep we do! We have the current boiler upgrade scheme with grants for those able to pay, and we have the home upgrade grant for low income low energy efficient households in fuel poverty :)
@@xXCricketer1Xx That's amazing, thanks for the info!
Back in the spring I replaced my aging gas furnace with a heat pump after seeing natural gas prices skyrocket. While I haven’t yet seen how well it works in winter, I’ve already seen my gas bill drop by about 90% (the remaining uses are for my stove and water heater), while my electricity cost has risen by less than half of what I saved on gas. That’s already a huge cost saving for me, and I’m eager to see the data for this winter. (I’m ignoring the up-front installation costs because the gas furnace would eventually have needed replacing regardless.)
Good for you! You will see some savings, however, the major impact is the GHG emissions reduction.
To see the full potential of savings, you may want to consider switching to an electric induction stove and a heat pump water heater (Stiebel Eltron). That way you can consider saving the basic utility charge fee that in our case was about 35 a month, plus huge savings on heating water, which accounts for about 25 percent of all heating costs. We achieved zero emissions in our home and feel very proud for it. Cheers
Did you kno you could also use heat pumps to heat water? These systems will further decrease your costs for hot water use in showers. Better yet, since it mostly sucks out warmth from its surroundings, it can cool down your house's temperature as a bonus during hot summer days at no extra cost.
Only problem is of course that you won't have unlimited hot water every day, you will need a large enough tank that heats up the stored water every night.
Additional depending the product, a heat pump water boiler can reduce moisture in your basement.
If you want a much MUCH more in-depth explainer on the technology behind how heat-pumps work, the channel Technology Connections has multiple videos on the topic. I highly recommend them.
Great stand-in for Simon. As someone who's been upgrading their house bit by bit over the years, it's nice to see how the next planned step will work.
Absolutely. There's just no alternative to heat pumps. From all the heating alternatives heat pumps fit into our future energy system the best. It's not even close...
We just bought a hybrid electric heat pump water heater to replace our natural gas one. Next step will be the gas heater and we will be done with fossil fuels in our home.
I did the same as the first two things when I moved into my home with both of these items aging. I live in New York so get the full spectrum of temperature ranges. I don't regret my decision to install a (cold temp) heat pump for heating my home, but I'll be damned if it's saving me money on my utility bill. Natural gas is too cheap in New York, so it doesn't even come close. If your house hasn't had its insulation updated with the spray foam stuff, then that will make your investment go a lot further. The hybrid electric heat pump water heater as you have though, that's been great! It stays in my unfinished basement so always has 60 F - 67 F air to pull heat from.
How much did it cost for the heat pump. I'm considering it but from what I'm seeing it's pretty expensive. Anything you wished you'd done before getting it or other hints/tips?
@@davidjennings2179 Are you looking for a minisplit system or replacing a central A/C and furnace? Mine was replacing central A/C and furnace (both of mine were over 20 years old). That ran me 13.5k AFTER New York Clean Heat rebate of 5.5k. Check your state's rebate information, as only certain installers are licensed to do it. If you don't have 200A service to your house, that is a prerequisite - there is no way to fit all of the breakers in a 100A breaker box. The installer will likely need to upgrade the electrical to the furnace area and to the outside, presuming that you're replacing an old A/C unit. The thing I would recommend as a general rule is : only replace your old fossil fuel things when they need replacing. If it is 5 years old, wait. If it is 20 years old, do it yesterday.
kind of interesting you did the water heater separate rather than a combined system. I assume it was either too costly or you had to replace the water heater that broke?
@@imadork123 Thanks, I'm in the UK so some of that isn't as applicable - for example we generally don't use AC here as it rarely gets that warm (though obviously that might be changing). The boiler is 11 years old, still working for now. Like you say, perhaps best to leave it for now.
We installed home insulation, thick insulated curtains, an efficient induction stove, and heat pump water heating and home heating and cooling in our remodeled home. We love how easy it is to clean our stove compared to the old gas stove. During a power outage, the heat pump water heater kept the water hot for four days, and the heat pumps are cleaner and less expensive to run than the propane appliances they replaced. Our savings will really kick in when we finally install solar and batteries and go mostly off grid.
You wont go off grid in the winter. Unless you have at least a 500kwh battery pack. But nontheless, very good progress! Im in the same situation, its the best we can do for now.
Excellent video! Big problem in the UK is the additional levies on electricity compared to gas which prevents the operational savings from the efficiency improvement
True the price is more or less the same, but heat pumps use way less kWhs per unit of heat than a gas boiler does, so you still get significant operational savings.
@@andyhartleywith current prices the same heat output from a heat pump and a gas boiler costs the same money. But the heat pump system that can heat up water costs twice as much as the boiler and maintenance costs are higher.
There shouldn't be any levies (taxes) on any fuel required to heat people's homes.
@@stephen8035 It not a tax. It's how the price of electricity is set, by using the price of gas fired power as the price for all forms of generation. Meaning wind and solar power costs the same on the open market as gas and nuclear, despite it being cheaper to produce.
@@andyhartley the pricing of our energy is I think pretty stupid but it was approved by our government. When wind energy was deemed before construction to be cheaper than gas why would a government allow the wind energy companies to accept gas prices as the going rate. The government conned the public saying wind energy was cheap (to produce) but knew it would not be passing on the savings.
I got a heat pump to retrofit my very old home's HVAC after finding out our chimney was collapsing internally and this thing (a ductless system) is pretty amazing. The efficiency is great too!
Our government gives grants for green energy renovations: roof insulation, solar panels, heat pumps etc. But it takes a couple of grand off a tens of grand's worth of work. You have to already have money to save money. So I am poor, and I p*ss money away on a drafty house. The people with solar panels heat their water and sell energy back to the grid, earning even more.
Unless they supplement the grants with payment plan schemes, it's never going to be a universal buy-in. Our temperatures are good for heat pumps, but retro fitting is expensive. Also, our grants limit the amount of people who can certify that the work is done, making it difficult for people who do DIY without paying off somebody to ok it. Seems like jobs for the boys again. I don't like sounding so negative, but I want to join in on these things, and I think the people who would benefit most are the people who are struggling with the cost of living and cost of energy.
Absolutely agree - our boiler packed in just after we moved houses and because we had basically no money at all, despite really wanting to, I couldn't afford a heat pump. Widespread adoption is only going to happen with far more extensive government support.
@@SimonClark "far more extensive government support" well, there was £150M for 30,000 heat pump installations and the heat pump scheme only managed to install 10,000 units...so they couldn't even give them away...
One thing contributing to the limitation of adoption of heat pumps is renting. I'd love to have a heat pump, but there's absolutely no incentive for my landlord to spend thousands on replacing the gas boiler, as it's of no financial benefit to them.
30% federal tax credit, potential utility rebates and immediate monthly savings with a 2-3 year roi…
@@Remotesteve2 this would be fantastic if I lived in the US
An hybrid heat pump, eg a Clim could be easily removed by a pro and moved to a new location. The r.o.i is less than 5 years and comfort is incredible
Yup. Good ol’ money. The thing keeping us from changing and saving our own asses. God bless it.
I recently ditched my gas furnace for a ducted reverse cycle air conditioner (heat pump). It is brilliant!
As I have solar panels (since 2008) it virtually cost me nothing to heat and cool my home. Plus I have a solar evacuated tube hot water system. My gas bill has gone down 97%!
As a proud South Australian I am happy to do my bit to make us a world leader in renewable energy.
It can be done!
The inflation reduction act includes tax rebates of 30-100% for heat pump installations in your home. Tax rebates are probably the LEAST effective way of getting this tech implemented since nobody here even knows they exist, but if you're thinking about buying a heat pump but worried about the cost you should look into it.
It's a moot point for me and millions of other Americans though because I live in an apartment. There needs to be some actual top-down transition to heat pumps as part of a Green New Deal style strategy if we actually want the technology to take over
I think heat pumps are inevitable and great, but the cost at the moment in the UK is a significant factor. I have a standard semi and all the quotes were around £6k including grant. Thats not affordable for my circumstances, but I am sure prices will come down in the future.
Hold out long enough and you'll get them for free.
I've had a heat pump as primary heat source in my home for ~15 years now and yeah they work just fine 😀
FWIW: My personal experience also tells me that the "heat pumps don't work at freezing temps' myth could be related to the fact that while they indeed work at -20C(only rarely happens here in Denmark) Their capacity goes down too, so if your heat pump is under-specced for your home it *will struggle* to keep up a comfortable indoor temperature during those very coldest of nights.
Also running my HP as an air-conditioner in summer is less efficient than heating i.e. more like a COP of 200% rather than 300-400%.
there has also been a lot of improvements in newer heatpumps compared to what was available 15 years ago when a lot of these myths comes from.
@@tarkadahl1985 A very good point indeed, just out of curiosity, i checked out some current air-to-air heatpumps and they're averaging ~400-550% COP which is considerably higher than my old one 😅
Though datasheets also show that losing ~50% capacity at -25C is still the norm, which is right in line with my own experience.
@@lagmonster7789 arotherm plus 10kW here, hitting a SCOP of 4.2. Slightly lower than documents which said 4.5 but I ain't complaining. Have seen it break 6 on a few random days which is hilarious.
I have a heat pump and love it,works really well 😀
Our approach with the climate crisis will never be a silver bullet, but things that both currently exist and can bring tangible improvements wherever they're installed are always great to discuss and promote more. Solutions like this can really help us set a better new standard with little reason not to implement them.
There’s going to be a billion climate refugees by 2050 but yeah efficient AC is a good priority
@@___.51 We can, and need to, focus on many things at once. Besides, no matter what we do temperatures are going to become hotter and more unstable, and temperature control will be installed in more and more buildings. It's in everyone's interest we try to make sure that technology is as efficient as possible .
From conversations with people who made the transition to heat pumps and with engineers it seems that just replacing a gas boiler with a heat pump won't warm your home very much. The whole central heating system may need replacing with larger bore pipes and thicker radiators. Sadly, much of the UK housing stock is thermally very inefficient so moving to renewable energy is very costly. It is criminal that even now new houses are being built that are still reliant on fossil fuel for heating.
That's right, if your home is an older less well insulated one there would need to be fabric upgrades and increased size of heat emitters (radiators) to achieve the same comfort levels. Newer properties are much better, but still being built with gas boilers which is crazy as you say! And the UK government just pushed BACK the phase out date...
This is true of the most common heat pumps today, which use HFC refrigerants like r134a. These refrigerants don't work well with high hot side temperatures. There are heat pumps which use CO2 as the refrigerant, which can operate at much higher temperatures, and can heat water to the same temperatures as a typical gas boiler, so no changes to radiators or pipes are required. CO2 heat pumps are more complex and expensive though, but hopefully they'll get cheaper over time.
I think it's worth mentioning that the reason it's possible to extract heat from a colder temperature into your home that has a higher temperature is due to the relation temperature has to pressure. By expanding some liquid (the energy medium) into a low pressure state, we decrease its temperature. Once this temperature is lower than the surrounding heat source (e.g. a stable geothermal source of up to 10ºC about 100m down), the surroundings can heat it up to reach the same temperature. The difference in heat can then be extracted by pumping this liquid back and compressing it to a higher pressure so that the temperature is above the heat sink (our home).
This is the basics, and then there are many smart solutions to address different engineering and physics problems, of which I'm no expert in at all.
I guess this video is more on the impact of heat pumps rather than how they work, but Technology Connections has a number of videos on heat pumps that cover the more technical side if folks are interested.
A geothermal heat pump CAN have coolant lines running as deep as 100m, but that's a lot of extra work and wasted expense, when you can get plenty of useful heat to work with only a few meters below ground. I just saw some YT videos by a guy who lives near Kansas City, who built his own geothermal heat and cooling system. He buried his coolant lines only 10ft (about 3m) down, and he said it kept his home and family plenty warm through the last several Kansas winters. He calls his channel Challenged.
th-cam.com/video/MUWjjjFgXdg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-CiIj5Z9bmF8BfXu
@@chrisschembari2486 - If the Heat pumps don't "don't compress and expand the working fluid" then why are there compressors and expansion valves on every system?
and you were just talking about air heat pumps. You can also get geothermal or ground heatpumps that are less affected by the air temperature at the cost of some space or higher installation costs.
ground source heat pumps are nice if youre in a low density area or heat pumps arent wide spread, but what you really want is districting heating(especially cold district heating) because then instead of every house having several km of tubes in the ground(which you can run out of space or even thermal capacity of the ground with) its all just connected to a utility heat pipe that everyone can push or pull heat from, with the thermal capacity regulated but utilities
Cold climate Australia here. I have two heat pump air cons, and one heat pump hot water service and solar panels of the roof. What better way to heat and cool your home than with free energy from the sky? I disconnected from the gas network and my energy bills have dropped substantially. Thanks heat pumps!
Thank you so much. Human civilisation is need more speakers like you!
It would be good to do a supplementary video differentiating between air source heat pumps and ground source heat pumps.
1.2 million detached houses in Sweden (corresponding to 60 per cent of all detached houses) used a heat pump in 2019. Also. Downhole heat exchangers are the most common form of geothermal energy in Sweden. There are currently more than 300,000 downhole heat exchanger installations with heat pumps that are mainly used to heat single-family homes.
They're great! I have a full hvac heat pump system for my home and a mini split system for a garage and they both work extremely well and are super cheap to run.
On the housing estate where I live, we run on a district heating system, there was a trial run done on heat pumps and some homes made the switch. But it was stopped because those that switched complained that it cost them more to operate and the local authority stated the local grid was not capable of supporting a mass rollout.
Very informative and interesting vid. Thanks.
As a test certification equipment engineer, and I had air source heat pumps installed after extensive research, I'd like to add:
For new build passive or close to passive construction heat pumps are a great option; finding a qualified system [air source] heat pump project manager/installer is NOT easy, even for an engineer! They are a rare breed. Vast majority of home owners do not have this skill set for this task (finding the right professional);
inexpensive electrical usage cost in your area is a must;
system or whole house efficiency is a more meaningful measure rather than at the “machine” level.
This is because water has a higher specific heat capacity (4.184 J/g C) than air (1.012 J/g C), it is better able to regulate and retain heat than air. Water has higher thermal conductivity (~0.6W/m K) than air does (~0.24W/m K), which means that heat transfer from a water source than from an air source is 2.5x more and heat retention is 4x better than air;
In my case, operating cost was ~2.5x higher for heat pumps than for baseboard oil heat (at highest cost level per unit). And, room to room temperature variations were as high as 15 degrees with temperature at floor as low as 50 degrees (basement not insulated or heated) and at ceiling 90 degrees (indoor heat units mounted at ceiling level);
This technology is very complicated for home heating, even for a certification engineer,
A typical homeowner doesn't stand a chance;
In summary, for a very well insulated home (must be measured by very qualified pros), or as supplemental heat, heat pumps are a good option. For all others, extremely well skilled professionals in this industry (in extreme short supply, not an understatement) are a must at starting point.
I live in a 2 bed flat in a block of 6 on the ground floor flat. I've spoken to an expert on heat pumps, and apparently it's not cost effective for me to switch yet. Also presumably it'd be better if the whole block was powered by a single heat pump. How is that supposed to be organised? I want to switch but so far it doesn't seem economically viable for me/us.
++ something like that
The only way something like that can be organised is through a city-wide effort with quite possibly a federal/government program to subsidise it. But it's unlikely that all administrative bodies involved will move on their own without massive push from you and your fellow citizens. Because the fossil lobby has bought them so hard that only the fear of losing power will make them overcome money.
If you're in the EU you could set up an SEC (Sustainable Energy Community) by joining forces with your neighbours whether homeowners or renters and respective landlords. You can then bid for funding for part or all of the cost (cue someone's good at applications) there should be a regional SEC mentor you could speak to for more information. We have an SEC here in our village in Ireland
I installed a couple mini-splits this past summer. They are my sole source of heat so far this autumn. I will have to fire up the boiler and the fireplace when we get into winter. I live in Minnesota.
We have had a heat pump since 2009. It's great! Even in Scandinavia!
There are many aspects to "heat pumps" - they are diverse! Air-to-air, air-to-water, ground-to-water, groundwater-to-water and whatnot. The first two are not that efficient in cold weather, and some models (if not most) do have a problem below -15 °C - but in many areas, air-to-air and air-to-water work just fine. And they save energy most of the time. I found out only *after* we had planned and executed the renovation of our house and opted for a masonry heater and wood, or I would have opted for multi-split air conditioning (it would've cost nearly the same, but with greater comfort and less operating cost); on the other hand - having wood as a low-tech option does give some peace of mind (works even when the grid goes down), but is no option for the public at large.
Some hurdles ( not insurmountable but not being adressed properly at the moment ) A big proportion of the UK housing stock is not well enough insulated for heat pumps to have a good enough pay back time at current electricity prices. A big proportion of the UK housing stock has nowhere to put the big tank needed to store heat. So what about Heatpump consumption being priced without green levies? Make grants for insulation improvements based on improvement achieved where combined with heat pump install, not means tested. Would be a big help for smaller homes if the price of Phase change heat batteries were to come down significantly or there were grants for them...
The big issue is the antiquated heating systems in the UK are 99% all based around water radiators and a heat source that heats water pumped around those radiators. Most of the pipework is not insulated and the houses are old design and leaky, so you have to brute force heat to make the property warm. A simple test is heat a property up , then see how fast it cools inside, the bulk of UK houses all cool rapidly. This makes heat pumps either work much harder or they never supply the temperature needed to heat the houses up. Good installers can rectify the heating system faults but this all costs money and essentially the house needs emptying to get at all the pipework. I personally feel the heatpumps should be direct heating and cooling, much like they are used in the USA and Canada, lose the radiators off the walls and just have a couple of blown air units to condition the air in the space they are in.
Low flow heat/ energy dump to underfloor heating works also as long as you start the dumpage late summer/early autumn and heat the thermal mass of the floor it's easier to maintain that heat going Into winter.
Heatpumps are amazing tech but you need to look at how they are used and for us in the UK is coupling them into old heating circuits a viable option?....it's normally not.
That's the conclusion I came to as well. It doesn't help that MCS installers are charging way over the odds to install air to water heat pumps. I ended up with mini-split heat pumps which are great as long as you can put up with the blower noise. They heat up fast so you can get away with only heating specific rooms. For instance at night only the bed rooms are heated. If it's really cold the other rooms are still heated a bit, just to take the chill off.
It doesn't matter that the pipes aren't insulated because the heat that leaks is still heating your home. You don't need to replace the pipes as you can just use a more powerful circulation pump to compensate. You do need larger radiators but you can have triple stacked deeper ones so they don't take up too much wall area. In my home most of the radiators were already big enough as they were oversized for boiler use. Of course improving insulation is a good idea, but that would be the case whatever heating system you have.
Actually learned something, very nice!
One old technology that I find fascinating is windcacthers. They can be used in warmer climates for decabornization
good building design is definitely up there as one of the most underrated ways to deal with climate change
Only in the dry warm areas.
@@yolo_burrito is that suppose to be an issue?
yes you design buildings to fit their surroundings, the fact that most modern buildings are a universal desgin is the issue
@@vincentgrinn2665 Most modern buildings are not universal design. You think building in Florida is engineered the same as Michigan? Pretty sure 140 mph wind load and impact windows are different than snow load.
@@yolo_burrito pretty similar compared to how different they could be
Great job
WE have 4 Air Con (heat pump) since 15 years, but used them only at very high or humid days as of costs.
Now after 4 years building up Solar, since 2 Months I have 97% Solar and now the Air-con run more often relaxed,
as I know local electric here WAS 60% Gas and 20 Coal, now a bit better but still a reason also to change to solar.
Waiting another 12 months the investment is back, I save money, save environment with 1.400 kWh from Solar and have better life in summer.
Yes they are underrated, but as I see often here - used too much also. 28 C is good with the dryer air, but most I find living and shops with 24 or even 20 C.
If they do it with Solar or wind ok, but ...
I think the reason why heat pumps haven't taken off in the UK, even though we have high gas bills is purely because gas is 3-4 times cheaper than electricity
Given that there's no ROI, people aren't installing them en masse. Perhaps if we also had a carbon tax, people would also get heat pumps here
My personal aim is to super Insulate however prior to getting a heat pump
Heat pumps are a great way if moving heat energy and cooling to different parts of your building.
Leisure centres could use the heat energy generated from within gyms to assist the heating of swimming pools or changing rooms. Homes could have condensers in the loft spaces recapturing any heat that's escaping from the floors below. You don't have to just keep throwing heat outside or pulling warm air from outside. There's probably places within your building to pull it from where it is otherwise being wasted, making the system way more efficient. Especially if our bodies are always generating heat also, it's a heat source for your heat pump to heat somewhere else when you want to cool down.
Its like pulling the heat from your refrigerator to supplement your hot water cylinder. A mutual benefit.
Great video!
I have had heat pump for years. The first week after installation I monitored my electric consumption and found that it was half of what it used to be. At the time the temperature outside was -12 degrees centigrade. How low temperature they can work at depends on what kind of gas they are filled with but -30 degrees centigrade is a bit over optimistic. If you live in a place where it is very cold the solution is to drill a heat well or have coils in your lawn or under water. My heat pump is most efficient when the temperature outside I 6 degrees centigrade but drops if gets colder. Most benefit is if heat pumps are installed on big buildings or heated swimming pools. Although the installation is expensive it pays off in just a few years for big installations. Air to air installations in private homes and not to expensive and will pay off fairly fast.
fridges and AC are just magic, more so if you utilise it for heating as well. Most north european countries use them already and most of them already use also electric cars. Kinda cancels out some arguments that EV don't work so well in these regions or that heat pumps are too inefficient on too cold days.
Those are common in Norway. Most housings has one, be it private or workplace. Mine has both heating and cooling effect, which is great since my apartment has 20 cm insulation. IE. it is too hot during summer, and too cold in winter.
I was sad that there was no mention of New Zealand... electric heaters and fireplaces were normal heating in the '90s, but the government has been incentivising heat pumps for a while now and they are heating probably 2/3 of homes.
Heat pump are a great invention for cold climate, I really see the difference in my electrical bill when I use my heat pump vs my electrical baseboard.
But since government is giving subventions to have heat pumps, price went up. Nothing justify paying 10 000$ for a 3 tons heat pump that can go as low as - 25 Celsius. They are literally selling it 3 time their cost. And it take 4hrs to do the installation .
I live in a place where heating is very very rarely required, but cooling is quite important. For our atypical situation, it actually turns out that a AC+resistive heater ends up being more efficient than a heat pump. Getting a bit more efficient AC-only unit more than makes up for inefficiency of resistive heating for the few dozen hours it is running in a year.
Most folks don't live in the subtropics though.
I live in western Canada and need to replace my furnace. I would like to switch to a heat pump, we get down to -35 degrees Celsius will a heatpump work in those temperatures?
Are heat pumps the same thing as a reverse-cycle air conditioner?
You don't need to watch the video for the answer - it's simple: cost and space. Most UK housing stock is poorly insulated, lacks space for the kit and most people can't afford the high expense not just for the heat pump itself but for all the heating system upgrades often needed alongside.
Poorly insulated houses are not fit for any heating system. The gas boiler case only makes sense because gas is still relatively cheap.
We recently got a domestic battery with 12kWh of storage and a air-to-air heat-pump is next on the list. I'm considering picking up a cheap portable unit to give it a test this Winter before we commit to a full house solution. One issue in the UK is that the peak price of electricity is around six times more expensive than gas, so unless you can store cheap off-peak electricity and solar it doesn't really make economic sense. Even my cheap off-peak electricity is almost twice the price of gas, (9p/kWh vs. 4.7p/kWh).
We had a heat pump in northern mo. They work great 35 degrees and up below that they simply dont work and you freeze. You have to go over to your fegular gas furnace. Additionally they cost more to operate.
Hi, good video Simon. The only thing I would take issue with is the figure of 40% saving in CO2 emissions that you mentioned. Since putting in my heat pump I have gone from using gas for all heating and cooking to using electricity and all the heating from a heat pump. Of course I switched to a 100% renewable electricity deal. I have gone over the figures before and I calculate a 98% reduction in CO2 emissions. I realise all cases are a bit different and countries may be different too, but I really doubt there is so much difference. So put another way :- my house emits 2% of what it used to and you are saying 60%. I could post all the figures if anyone wanted but briefly it works like this ... Gas consumption was 30,000 kWh/y and CO2 was 490 g/kWh. With heat pump (and electric cooker) consumption is 6,300kWh/y, the mixture of renewables (wind, bio, solar, hydro) emit 12-80 g/Kwh (about 50 on average). Result 1.9% of the previous emissions.
I have heard similarly pessimistic figures to the one you gave from power companies, I think if the correct CO2 savings were publicised more people might install a heat pump.
Best Wishes
Did you know that Heat Pumps are also amazing dehumidifiers? in fact, they can make famously expensive to run clothes dryers cheaper than a kettle to dry a whole load's worth of clothes, with only a standard (240v) wall outlet!
Thanks Michael for stepping in
Another reason - in some countries, home insurance companies continue to refuse to cover heat pumps in the same way they do gas boilers. If the insurance companies treat them as too risky to insure, people are often wary to switch.
Even if it was the case that heat pumps don't work in really cold climates, usually you can just do geothermal heating. You lay down pipes below the ground where the temperature is stable throughout the year. You still need a heat pump but the temperature difference will be smaller. And even in reality this is popular because it's more efficient than taking heat from the outside air, though it is more expensive to install.
Good video introduction. Tiny correction- heat pumps will work great any source of clean sustainable energy- Nuclear(why neglected and treated as some ugly duckling?), wind, solar, in some way even coal electricity does have benefit with heat pump(because coal power plan does have good filtering vs burning thing locally). Heat pumps with some buffer could be great to consume nightly overproduction of for example nuclear power and shift heat/cold to be used in the day(negative prices are actually not that great for sustainable growth and fast decarbonisation).
I"m seventy-two and can't remember the last time I used anything to heat or cool my home. I do however wear socks in the winter, and seat like hell in the summer. Maybe I'm just too tight-fisted to spend the money. 😢😱
Hi Simon, how about fitting heatpumps to older buildings with poorer insulation? Can you still get befits installing Heatpumps without upgrading the buildings insulation?
It will work fine but the efficiency of the heatpump will be lower, the higher the outlet water temperature the property needs the lower the coefficient of performance(COP). In my region a COP of 2.5 makes a heatpump cheaper to run than a gas boiler. You can lookup in the specs of the heatpump what the COP is for a given outlet temperature and outdoor climate. You can see for your self if the heatpump will be a smart option. Often a building has been upgraded over periode of decades, better insulation, new windows ect. The heating system is often oversized for the insulation. You can test if your property is ready for a heatpump by running the outlet temperature of your boiler at 50C. If your property stays warm during winter you can easy switch to a heatpump.
@@fbenniks thanks for the information.
If you stick with wet heating the radiators end up huge. You have to roughly double the size of your radiators due to the lower water temperature.
I went with mini-split heat pumps (air conditioning units) with a COP of 3.7. No radiators, just a box on the wall near the ceiling. There are two down sides: they are fan driven so you do hear the blower running when they are on. They also don't heat water. I prefer the electric shower to a bath so that isn't much of an issue for me.
Hey! Where I live air conditioning isn't the norm. I know almost noone who has one. Although it gets very hot in the summer, the houses around here are typically well isolated. Most people just open the doors and windows in the morning and evening and close everything during the day to keep the heat in check. However, when travelling I sometimes found myself using an air conditioner due to poorly isolated rooms that got too hot and it always felt like those things would reduce air quality and make me sick. Do heat pumps have the same problem?
So weird to hear the rest of the world talking about them as a novel technology. In NZ they are in almost every home and have been popular for decades here.
In the animation at 5:11 and 6:04 the refrigerant is moving in the wrong direction. Otherwise, nice video. Heat pumps are fascinating.
Exactly. It is important to get these details correct to avoid making the public less intelligent. Should have had an engineer review before publishing
as someone from a tropical country, i have no idea what this "heating system" thing is for houses, but aren't the thing you described as "heat pump" just the typical air conditioner?
I like my oil furnace. By the time I decided that the price I pay for fuel would be offset in a few years by buying and installing a heat pump, my government created a program which pays for the pump and installation for people like me who don't make enough money to consider the cost of heating oil as insignificant. I have a full tank of oil so when that once-per-year cold snap comes for two days when the heat pump just ain't enough, I'll have that as a backup.
Heat Pumps are fantastic for most climates. It is a large investment in your home! Many of the best systems can cost $30,000. West Coast US prices including installation for a whole new system. Older homes may also need additional changes with ductwork, insulation, energy efficient windows, etc.
Heat pumps with underground counter on city based level is the highest efficient solution that I know. Air heat pumps also more efficient for individual usage and more simple to install.
My wife and I tried to buy a heat pump last year, but it would have been $20k after rebates, and we just couldn’t afford that. Also, the HVAC company wouldn’t install it without a back up furnace. We had to settle for an 80% efficient natural gas furnace for $5k. If we ever have a chance to get a heat pump for a price we can pay, the furnace we bought will serve as our backup.
That's true. The AC industry is very abusive.
Are these the same as Inverter split systems? They're just lumped in with AC in everyday speech and most people I know have 'inverter' models so they can heat and cool. I just had 2 units installed and the cost minus labour was $1k. I hope they become more common around the world.
We just installed the heat pump to replace an air conditioner. We already have a fairly new gas furnace so this was kind of a secondary heat source for us. I was very disappointed to learn that economically it doesn't pay to run the heat pump as a heat source anytime the outside temperature is below 60°. 😐 This is in the state of Wisconsin.
When I moved to the UK, I found it weird that nobody had air conditioning and only gas central heating. It was literally something I had never seen before. In Australia, almost every home has a reverse cycle airconditioner (i.e., heat pump).
something, something, latent heat of vaporization.
I love my heat pump, I moved into my flat in Jan 2022 and there was no gas & all heating was electric panels, so I bought a portable air con/heat pump.
Even in my pretty large front room & a relatively inefficent (when compared to other types of ac/hp) portable unit, it easily keeps the room between 18 and 20 degrees switching on an off a few times during the day
Even running continuously, it uses the same amount power in 2 hours the panel heaters did in 30 mins & I struggled to keep the room at 15 degrees with them.
Even if in the end it costed the same amount, I would be far happier with my little heat pump because it actually keeps my flat at a comfortable temperature. (Plus my energy supplier only buys renewable energy so I feel good knowing my carbon footprint is pretty low in that regard.
When I was looking at buying an AC unit I found that the portable ones didn't use the heat pump for heating and just used resistive heating. Only the mini split fixed units actually worked as a heat pump for heating. Are you sure yours is using the heat pump for heating? If so what is the make and model?
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 I’m positive, you can hear the compressor switch on (it’s not loud but a noticeable difference from just the fan) and works at an efficiency literally impossible for resistive heating (I literally tracked the energy usage with it on for a few hours straight when I first bought it, and as said actually kept the room hot using around 1/3 the power.)
I have the Inventor Magic, I got it off Amazon and was a fairly cheap option.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 As predicited my comment with the link got removed (Yet somehow they let spambots through and let Doxxers remain on the platform) so you'll have to search you should find it pretty easy.
@@SamPhoenix_ TH-cam usually doesn't allow links, often not even TH-cam links. That's why I asked for the name so I could google it.
@@adrianthoroughgood1191 The brand and name is at the bottom of my first reply. I'd pasted the link to try and be helpful but I did it in a second comment because I suspected it would be removed.
We've installed an air-source heat pump with our new furnace and bought a water heater with a heat pump on top of it. Combined, we have lowered our energy costs by an average of around $150/mo, and the net cost (after rebates and incentives) was only about $1,600 more than "traditional" heating products. That means in less than a year, we have already recouped those costs and are now saving money over what we would have spent. I can't imagined why anyone would buy a new water heater or furnace w/o buying a heat pump to supplement those needs...it's an absolute no-brainer.
Is a heat pump the same as a reverse cycle aircon? That seems to be the most common kind of aircon among people I know (in australia)
I believe so
It is exactly that.
Can't oil and gas plants also be eventually powered by renewables (biomass)? The big advantage of heat pumps seems to be efficiency, doesn't it?
1. Yes, but where is the land to grow all that biomass? 2. Yes, efficiency is the advantage. Better to run three houses with heat pumps with that biomass-electricity than use it for just one.
@@dougbamford Yeah, exactly. Just if there's say 0.1% of homes still running on boilers at some point, we would be able to fuel them renewably. We wouldn't need to abolish boilers completely for that
In our fridges, we all have heat pumps. And espacialy the US-americans know and love their airconditioners. But the heating? Nobody thinks about that. But its realy genius that physical process. And can replace oil and gas for heating.
In theory, we could somehow store a lot of heat in some medium, in some place (two formidable challenges in dense cities) and then the heat pumps could use that bottled up heat (example: water of 30°C) in the winter. In practice however, I don't see how to do it.
I hear that unless you have a modern built house with underfloor heating and a modern heating layout they don't work well. Lots of houses in UK are not built to that standard, and it costs a fortune to correct that (Govm grants are not that much to help). Heat pumps are also very loud and have to be placed outside the property (good luck in built up urban areas with close in flats). They are not the solution for most places in my opinion.
@@fbenniksthis isn’t Reddit dude
Isn't the compessor moving fluid to the wrong direction? 6:06
What do you do if electricity outage in the winter?
Gas boilers don't work without electricity either.
@@Simon-dm8zv they need less power to operate. You can power from generator/battery w inverter which will power boiler and heating pump and valves.
@@rimantascalyj276
Use same generator to power heat pump, my 6kW unit generally pulls 500W on average 24/7, worst case scenario about 1.5kW for heating.
We need to replace the gas furnace of our house, and I’m really interested in heat pumps. But a: our house is over 100 years old, and b: we live in Minnesota. We regularly experience multiple days below -10F in the winter, and it can reach -20F. At those temperatures, we’re pushing the limits of what affordable commercial heat pumps can do.
Maybe there is a solution for you in the form of hybrid heat pumps.
Heat Pumps have been a thing in Canada for decades. You just need an additional heat source which is often integrated into the unit anyway if you install a central one.
@@ve2dmn "You just need an additional heat source which is often integrated into the unit anyway" Do you mean a hybrid heat pump?
I have a mini split heat pump that heats and cools my first floor when it's above freezing outside. This house is 100 years old and although I've had it insulated it still takes a lot to keep it at 68 when it's cold and windy outside. My experience is those of us with old houses will always need a fossil fueled source when it gets really cold out. Insulation companies want nothing to do with old houses, to do the job right a house would have to gutted and have it properly undulated (foam or Roxul) - blown in insulation just does not work in these old plaster on lath houses. At 76 I'm not going to move into a new house and doing it right would bankrupt me, government programs around here just line companies pockets and leave you with poor results - my heating costs did not go down after having them insulate the house, they may have ence gone up a little. My steam system is not as efficient as I'd like but it works very well because it was sized to the house as it was built..
Best would be to require new construction to be tight and well insulated but recognize a lot of old house just are not suitable for this new technology unless the owner is very well off.
The problem is heat pumps are incredibly expensive in the US. Artificially so. Unless you directly buy your own, but then you have to find an HVAC company willing to install it. Which can be very difficult because of exclusivity agreements.
You could be paying $10k for a Carrier hear pump vs
3:18 Norway is not the best example as we have an insane amount of Hydro power and a small population. Still France has a huge population, and doesn't have the same natural resources as Norway. Did invest more in nuclear than most other countries though. Not sure what Sweden is doing. Betting it's in part Hydro though.
I've been trying to gauge whether or not installing a heat pump is within my diy skillset. In my opinion, the real problem with heat pumps is that the installation costs can be outrageous. If you are doing it yourself, you could probably mess up and start from scratch five times before approaching the cost of professional installation.
So what is the difference with reverse cycle air conditioning?
none, reverse cycle ac are heat pumps
assuming ofcourse they actually are reverse cycle and not just an ac with a heating element in the inside unit
I live in a tropical zone and here the only problem is the heat. I would love to see videos with more sustainable solutions than air conditioner
Heat Pumps are air conditioners as well. They do both AC and heating. Most climates still need some heat for part of the year. If you never need to heat your home then you probably just need an efficient AC.
@@KPHVAC I imagine they were thinking of passive cooling solutions which don't require any energy. Ancient civilizations came up with some good tricks to keep their buildings cool without AC.
AC is efficient. Good Building design with lots of insulation is the way to improve things. My tropical solution will need to be different than places that have different average wind, and humidity
@@dougbamford All of those techniques are also great! Making the home more efficient is always important! Good insulation, air sealing, high efficiency windows, etc. Good exterior shades for the windows that get the most sun can make a huge difference or a covered deck or patio!
On places that mostly only need cooling solar panels are a great fit because their maximum output corresponds to the maximum electricity demand.
You say the heat pump works down to -20 degrees F, However what is the efficiency at that temp and further more , how does that translate to cost in comparison to fossil fuels. Can you handle that question Simon? ( By the way , thanks for posting and I love your background, very calming with those plants and light. )
Because we have an efficient combi boiler and changing to a heat pump would require extensive costly plumbing, replacement of radiators and house rewiring.The resulting heat pump would not give sufficient warmth for two elderly people, one confined to a chair in our less than efficiently insulated house. We would rather install electric heating which would be much simpler.
If we're going to rely on tax rebates, they should take a page from Italy's book and be >100% of the cost of installation. That's the only way to get people excited about installing a heat pump lol
I agree with this up to a point! I haven't investigated much myself, but have heard that while the Italian scheme was very effective, it ballooned prices and caused bottlenecks in supply because everyone wanted to do all the same work at the same time. The same idea but with staggered introduction and industry support would be ideal!
@@SimonClark I think the more complicated you make a policy like that, the less effective it'll be. If you keep it straightforward more people will sign on, if it's a staggered introduction it'll be harder to get the word out and more confusing for homeowners to know if they qualify. I feel like we honestly WANT these systems to be installed so fast that there's supply chain issues, because we need to bring emissions down ASAP! But a program like that would ideally be married to a big investment in domestic manufacturing to make sure we're producing all the heat pumps/solar panels/etc. we're expecting to install.
Thank you for replying btw :)
As someone that works in HVAC, I can tell you the reason we all aren't using them yet. They are expensive. In a residential setting, for an actual quality unit, you are looking at a $15,000 bill... Equipment and installation. And that is for a 3 ton condenser and air handling unit. Which basically means somewhere in the hall park of a 1500 square foot house. So if your house is any bigger, you can estimate your total cost around $20,000. So yeah, that's why we all aren't using heat pumps yet.
Heat pumps are good, they have come along way, however they loose a substantial amount of efficiency under 0° F. That's why many systems have an electric heating coil to help supplement it. Last year I installed a Trane/Mitsubishi heat pump system in a nursing home. They were not happy when it was below zero. Now no, the residence weren't freezing to death, but they were definitely uncomfortable.
It's not just the fossil fuel lobby spreading disinfo about heat pumps. It's also stuck in the past HVAC companies/people.
The asshats who put the heat pump in my house used an Armstrong model that is only good down to 40f. In Colorado, where it gets to below 0F a few days a year.
I paid for them to install a Midea model but they went with the armstrong I assume because they use them for basic air conditioning, or they got a kickback from armstrong. Either way now I have to pay to get their choice fixed and hope I can get some back from small claims court.
Smart thermostats are just super expensive programmable thermostats, most of them don't actually have all that much more to it besides giving your utility company the ability to change it on you. Also your refrigeration cycle drawing had the dots moving backwards; Compressor then the outdoor coil then the metering device then the indoor coil then back to the compressor (if you are in cooling mode)
Love the video! I think your animations for the heat pumps in heating and cooling mode are the wrong way around. The refrigerant should be hotter after compression
the first commercial heat pump invented and available in ...1860 as part of a fridge
and widely available a century ago
this is brilliant low tech tech... what we need is mass production at the next level to bring down cost and fitters... subsidies for solar massively reduced costs and the cost of installation .
Because their upfront costs are high af (at least in the US).
at 6:15, I think the heat pump is running backward (compressed air going outside)
thats the point, hes talking about heating cycle at that point
Compressing air makes it hotter, and that heat would be transmitted to the exterior.
If the fluid goes in that direction, it would cool the interior (in fact that's how AC works). It would need to be reversed to heat the inside.
@@vincentgrinn2665