Heat Pump?

[firstkings]

Hi,

Looking at houses on the net w come across "heat pumps" all the time.

What is a heat pump? Does it work well, adequately or laughably?

Cheers

David

[Melza7]

Hi there
a heatpump is aircon/and heater. I am not that technical as u can tell!
we have just had two installed at work and they are awesome, keep my nice and toasty & warm!
My sister also has one - they are getting VERY VERY popluar here - as they are trying to get everyone away from using fires.
I hope that helps ur question a bit

[firstkings]

yup!

Cheers

David

[jo-and-jeff]

Because of their design, heat pumps do not work as well in areas where temperatures get extremely cold, i.e., they should probably do the trick in Auckland, but I wouldn't want to rely on one in Canterbury. We had one at our home in Pennsylvania, and my HVAC guy there said that really, it got too cold in that area for people to have heat pumps, but many homes were built with them because they are cheaper than genuine gas or electric furnace/air conditioning units.

Jo

[Moorf]

Our friends in Kaiapoi had a heat pump which burnt out during the recent cold spell! It just couldn't cope....

The problem with heat pumps is that during cold weather they find it hard to cope and during power-cuts they're useless. There was a great article in The Press recently about the "clean air" movement in Chch - a lot of people now have no solid fuel heating and rely on electricity - not only does this mean a huge increase in the power demand during cold spells but it also means they have no form of heating should that power fail....

Just something to consider before ripping out all the solid fuel heating in a house....

[veronica]

heat pumps are basically a big fan heater stuck on the wall. We have one at work but I am not a fan of them.

[katandbob]

heat pumps are basically a big fan heater stuck on the wall. We have one at work but I am not a fan of them.

Me neither!

Our friends in Kaiapoi had a heat pump which burnt out during the recent cold spell! It just couldn't cope....

DITTO

Ours blew in the rental on tuesday, the argon blew, cracked and flooded into the room, I probably wore it out but the engineer that came out said it was the cheapest Chinese import on the market...and you couldnt get parts.

Today I had a brand spanking one fitted, and in the manual.....what did it say....

I quote....USAGE-
1.Exposure to direct airflow for an extended period of time could be hazardous to your health. DO NOT expose occupants, pets, or plants to direct airflow for extended periods of time.
2. Due to the possibility of Oxygen deficiency, ventilate the room when used together with stoves or other heating devices.

I ALSO GET EXTREME INTERFERENCE from the unit, and the other one to the TV! even when its turned off at the remote - I had to actually turn the Power off at the wall!

they blow on you, and dry your eyes too, I agree they would probably be great in Auckland, as they would be used as an aircon for most of the time and only heater on the odd day.

as you will have guessed I have turned it off and am using a portable gas heater (with the wheelie wheels) circa 1970's UK heating

I WILL NOT be using one in whatever house we eventually buy. and god help
the electric bill!

I want a wood burner or pellet burner, at least then if the electric goes you can be warm, cook tea and have a cuppa..and even a wash!

[Avalon]

[I WILL NOT be using one in whatever house we eventually buy. and god help
the electric bill!

They are very efficeint - so your electricity bill should not be too high with one installed.

Also, my reading about this ( we are getting some fitted) is that they should now contain Freon R410a as the coolant. I think thats for environmental purposes, but please dont quote me (im having a hard enough time learning about heatpumps as it is).

Something to bear in mind, is that in some cases - they may be your only real option as they heat in winter AND cool in summer, so if like us, your house is very cold in winter, BUT also gets veryhot in summer, then a heat pump solves both issues.

HRV (heat recovery ventilation) and DVS (same thing different make) may also be alternatives.

For my money - id love a heatpump right now But then our house is built really oddly and its only way to go for us.

Mind you - theres no way id rip out the wood burner! Dont really get that. Im a firm beleiver in having 2 heat sources if at all possible.

[Singel]

They are very efficeint - so your electricity bill should not be too high with one installed.

We have inverter heat pump (3 blowers) and the energy bill that we received last month was $100 and this month is $85.

Our new build has gas points and in the event of power failure, we could switch to gas-heating.

[DB]

We have a heat pump and it is a waste of electricity. However, other people have them and say they're great, so your mileage may vary. We were surveyed and told we required three units to cover our ground floor, in the end we got one of them to "test the water" so to speak, boy am I glad we did.

What I have learned is that for heating you really need to have the inside unit floor-mounted, not high on the wall like ours is. Also units vary by their effectiveness to work when its cold out. Ours (a Panasonic inverter) is useless, however the Daikin salesfolk say their product works better in the cold than other makes.

I can say though in summer the thing positively rocks; on a hot day it can freeze our lounge in just a few minutes!

If you want heat, look at a pellet fire, we have one of those, and although its not perfect (its a bit noisy, and you have to lug a bag of pellets in every couple of days) it does heat like a demon, and is very cost effective to operate. It does need electricity though.