What are the Pros and Cons of Heat Pumps? 

I just got one installed a week ago, my house has never been cool or as fresh since we moved in here 10 years ago. Huge props to heat pumps. And we live in triple digit weather.

My 7yr old Mitsubishi Ecodan (air-water) handle -20C/-4F without help from auxiliary inline heater. (still working at -32C/-25F with aux heater helping) I live ~450km/280miles from the polar circle and have no problem with heating my home with heatpump. My SCOP is between 3.2 and 4.5, depending on how cold the winter gets.

I understand that you’re going to be paying more in the winter to heat your home with respect to electricity bills. We’re on propane and live in coastal California. Propane heating is wildly expensive, especially since our furnace isn’t very efficient. I don’t see that it would be likely that we would be paying a lot more in the winter that would be in electricity rather than gas. But that was good information to know. First question: I thought heat pumps were more efficient at cooling than traditional air conditioners and would save us money on summer electric bills ….is that not correct? We need a 3 ton unit and we’re looking at a 3 ton 15 seer. we would probably use a larger unit except that we already put an independent mini split in our master suite which is on its own upper floor. Second question: shouldn’t heat pumps be located outside? One the reasons where making this change is that our old unit is hung underneath our house on earthquake fittings and straps and vibrates the floor in the dining room whether it’s heating or cooling it’s a 15-year-old unit and it’s just past its lifetime. It’s also very inefficient. The installer I talked to wanted to still put the new heat pump unit underneath the house. This doesn’t make any sense to me. The last thing I want is a chance of replicating vibration through the house as the unit ages or if something goes wrong - We have all deducting we need, and it would simply involve diverting the ducting from the existing unit to the heat pump. Other people I know have their units outside and it seems like it would be far less expensive to install it outdoors. Summer temperatures can get to 95 to 100 and winter temperatures can get low, but never freezing. A cold night where we live is , 40°. It is a rare night that gets down below that and freezing temperature is only encountered very rarely.

I have a heat pump . My heat pump is so efficient in winter and summer.I’m talking 60% less.Biggest problem is the noise. Not like a central air unit that’s quiet.Loud screech sound on startup and finish are normal.It’s normal to turn on 10-15 times an hour because they maintain temperature to precisely. If it’s set on 70 and it goes to 71, it comes on. Constant cycling on and off. Never knew this. Builder put ours outside my bedroom wall where my headboard this.The noise is horrible at night

@ 1:36 in my country as far as i know we have 0 incidents followed by the death of tenants! I have seen several cases where the exhaust pipe was pulled from the boiler and the burnt gas entered the house - the tenants had headaches and called us because the boiler signaled the lack of flame... instead, the chances of fires from overloaded electrical installations are much higher. Besides, almost all fires known to me are caused by various faults in the electrical installation ;)

Would heat pump work as good as furnace in Sacramento California region? I am planning to replace my gas furnace with heat pump. Thanks in advance.

places seem to still be gouging 200% + to absorb all the rebates and discounts

so can i assume it would be useless in weather where -5F is a good day during the winter?

14% increase in electricity prices in 10 years is less then inflation so nothing to worry about. Nice vid thumbs up

Wondering if there are units now capable of lower temperatures. Segment on the news here in Canada yesterday and this would not do.

What modifications need to be done to a house if I want to switch from a ac/furnace system to a heat pump?

Great explanation ! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Thank you 🙏

I live in NH it gets brutally cold in the winter should I just skip the heat pump entirely?

Is the exterior unit (condenser) the same as a normal A/C unit? Is the difference the actual interior “furnace unit”. I’m just a DIY’er and honestly don’t know. The reason I’m asking is my original heat pump compressor failed (28 yrs old) and I’m looking to replace it.

I found the actual temperature range very useful. I live in a maisonette with double high ceilings in the main rooms, and the upper floor kitchen/dining room is mostly open to the living room below. Mild winters. Under the those circumstances, would air to air ductless heat pumps work?

Would there be any synergy with the heat pump and other structure, like if you had an attached greenhouse or sunroom, would a heat pump work better or worse?

What about using this as water heater also? Does that mean no more water tank?

it is freezing outside how is it going to transfer heat from outside to inside ?

hi for colder climate y not put the hole system inside the house ?

What efficient heat system do you recommend for a cold climate area like Maine? Thank you for this important video.😃

can the actual pump be installed in a crawlspace? landlords are going to try to do that on this 100 year old uninsulated building with single pane windows. my circuit breaker only has 110 amps total.. I have about 500 sq ft but 9 foot ceilings ..this will be interesting. thanks for the good info!

If it's cold outside drawing cold air in then heating it up seems like a great idea for electric companies

will ventless ducts circulate air into apartment from the crawlspace? I read that mold can be an issue with these systems in a crawlspace.. is that an issue? we have no ground cover in the crawlspace

The cost of electricity hasn't gone up 14% the value of the dollar has gone down by 31%. Gas hasn't gone up in the last 10 years, but it is up 150% from the last 20 years.

Consider this: say it is 105 deg. outside and you have a heat pump that is supposed to take the heat from inside your house which is at a temp. of say 70 deg. and transfer it to the outdoors. It may be possible but it sure as "ell will take a whole boat load of electricity. Then consider this: say it is 35 deg. outside and 65 deg. inside your house. Do you think that taking heat from the near freezing outdoors and transferring that heat to inside will take a lot of work? You betcha, as a former governor of Alaska would say. Now conside this: Is a heat pump for you?? or for an evironmentalist???

I currently have an old natural gas furnace and a woodstove in my basement but no AC yet. I was thinking of replacing the furnace with an air source heat pump. I think this is the only way to make a heat pump worth the installation and running costs(using it as an AC and using the wood stove with it in the winter) as the winters here can get under -30C even during the day. Anyone I've spoken to that has these, either has a woostove as well or pays crazy electricity bills in the winter. This video would confirm that as the redzone for efficiency at 25 fahrenheit is only -3 Celsius. Even with woodheat, im not sure how a hest pump wpuld do anyrhing but cost me just as much as my 30 year natural gas furnace. Im in Canada, where the carbon tax alone makes the cost of living 33% more expensive. So needless to say, there is a lot of government pressure to switch to electric heating. Really hard to find information thar isnt completely full of bias. So thank you for that.

There are heat pumps rated for various outdoor temp ranges. Sounds like you're only familiar with milder climates and not those designed for cold climates, which will more expensive than the ones for mild climates, they can easily work down to -22F

I live in Texas and my hvac is already electric I'm thinking good investment

The heat pump is simply the REFRIGERATION process. Refrigeration can appear to be like magic, meaning, the efficiency can be 300% or more. The amount of energy pumped can be 3 or more times the amount of energy required to do the pumping. The magic takes place in the condenser unit. The compressor compresses the refrigerant gas into a hot gas (not a liquid). When this hot gas flows through the condenser cooling coils, it condenses into a liquid. This change of state from a gas to a liquid is where the magic is. If the condenser cooling coils are large enough, not even a cooling fan is necessary to achieve this change of state.

what happens when you electricity goes out?

the only reason heatpumps are more expensive to install is because in the US you guys get raped by these HVAC techs. A fully installed 7kw (24,000btu) heatpump in NZ is around 1500USD, including the heatpump. They're absolutely trivial to install and theres precisely zero percent more work because it does heating and cooling, what a joke. My 7kw unit has required exactly zero servicing by HVAC techs, all you have to do is clean the filters and blow out the coils inside and out, which is 100% free. The comments about heatpumps being bad below 40f is a joke as well, this is like saying 'cars can't tow boats' and using a toyota corolla as your example. If you're in a cold climate area you get a cold climate heatpump, which can pull their full rated power to down to -5F. You're an hvac tech? lol. Monkey Wrench is appropriate.

Still deciding

Not efficient at all your electricity bill bill will go through the roof negates the whole purpose

Heat pumps produce less heat - especially in the winter, and generally increase electricity costs by 2x.

3:10 I understand that heat-pumps cost more, they do need the reversing valve which adds extra complexity. But why would the cost to install be higher? It does not make any sense, it's the same process to install a heat-pump or an air conditioner. Heat pumps are air conditioners that have the reversing valve. I dislike it when contractors offered to install a heat-pump and quoted me the install cost, based on the equipment cost. It's the exact same process to install. Install a condenser outside, install an air-handler inside, connect them together with refrigerant lines and a communication wire, fill the system with refrigerant and plug both units in. It's the exact same process wether you are using a $10k heat-pump system or a $2k air-conditioner only. Also at 3:50, why do they require more maintenance? It's only the extra reversing valve that is different compared an AC unit, and that has no maintenance that can be done. At 4:30 when talking about poor severe weather performance, that's true, but not below 25F. Sure there are some older designs that don't work well, but nowadays, my Mitsubishi HyperHeat is rated to provide 100% heating capacity at 5F with an efficiency of 200% and will continue to operate down to -17F. I feel like this video is full of misinformation, don't understand why...

2 minutes of good info diluted into a 5 minute video with 3 minutes of gibberish. We SAW the title. We don't need you to waste initial 45 seconds telling us what cideo is about! Then, he has the nerve to say "jumping right into it."... after 45 seconds of useless fluff. 👎

Show the costs with 2 homes same square footage , new , cost comparison. Forget all that enviro b.s.

No thanks

Heat pumps and their 300% efficiency are a big con and they go against the laws of physics. If that was the case, i.e. 300% efficiency, then why can't we install an 2nd pump in series from the 1st pump, and give out 3 times more, i.e. output 9 times from the original input? Could even try a 3rd pump and give out 27x output.....The 300% efficiency is a big con. People tried to build perpetual motion machines in the 17th-18th century, until physicists formulated the laws of thermodynamics and proved this was not possible. No machine can be > 100% efficient.

They cost 3 TIMES MORE TO HEAT YOUR HOUSE and EXPENSIVE maintenance

you can do a better job them this... do it again.

You're 100% wrong about heat pumps and cold weather.

Horrible things, very noisy, and freeze up in the cold.

Cons of heat pump? Noise, noise, noise. Not worth any potential cost savings.

you are wrong , all compressors create heat , all , and that is the primary source of heat , period

Con is heat pump cant use it while its 80s outside if you want heat inside 😂

Can this guy just get to it?!! Talks more then a woman! Also "plus side" no handing $ to the republicans who own fossil fuels!!!

Steam heat with an oil boiler old school baby. Plus a window ac if that goes it’s only $150 to replace