this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2023
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Sales are growing so quickly that some installers wonder whether heat pumps could even wipe out the demand for new air conditioners in a few years and put a significant dent in the number of natural gas furnaces.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How is it not full replacement for an AC? It is an AC.

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

Edit: fine. You're all correct and I'm wrong.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

A heatpump is an AC, definitionally. There is no major difference for a 9000 BTU heat pump and a 9000 BTU AC in terms of capability to cool. They both work through using gas to move heat from the inside to the outside of the building.

A heat pump can just run in reverse, and move heat form outside the building inside.

A mini-split is a version of a heat pump where it has its own head and its own radiator, that are split. this is opposed to central AC.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Most central AC area also split systems. The evaporator is indoors and the compressor/condenser unit sits outside, and are connected by pipes.

The only difference is that they are ducted to the entire house, where a mini-split generally only cools a single room.

And yo can get central type units that have a reversing valve which allows them to cool the house in the summer and heat it in the winter. Though those have historically been a lot harder to find. There are more coming on the market in the last few years.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Wait, that doesn't make sense to me. Are you talking about air heat pumps, or geo heat pumps here? The air ones are literally just ACs in a different shape, and the latter is basically an AC where the outside bit goes underground.

The principals are the same, and they even use the same terminology. I know other countries dont' differentiate in the slightest and just call them all the same thing.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

There are ones with broader operating ranges. I have a Carrier infinity that cools just fine in the Saskatchewan heat and heats down to -15. I've seen some models that can operate to -25 or 30.

And yes, AC is a one-direction heat pump. The heat pumps that provide heat are an AC that can reverse the refrigeration loop and force heat into a space rather than out of a space.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Then you haven't done very good research... My Gree Minisplit heatpump has no issues cooling in the hottest days.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Then you've been lied to. My heat pump keeps the house cool when it's 40C, and warm when it's -40C.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

@Luci @wildbus8979 this may have been true a decade ago but now the cold-climate versions can operate at 100% down to -20C. Ours was operational at -29C and running at about 80% output (even though according to the specs thermal shutoff is -28)