But what about the heat pumps? | Alberta's electrical grid recovers after extreme cold prompts threat of rolling power outages

submitted by hfxB0oyA from (cbc.ca)

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[–]hfxB0oyA[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Hard to run those electric heat pumps when your grid is down. I'm going to stick to logs and matches, thanks.

[–]HiddenFox 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Heat pumps are very efficient. I have 2 pumps at the 20 000 btu range and each one uses around 1000w.

My forced air furnace has a 3/4 HP electric motor running at 1200w.

Yes the two heat pumps use more power but I still think they are one of the few "green" techs that are worth their investment.

[–]hfxB0oyA[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

How low a temperature do they work to?

[–]HiddenFox 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Mine are rated for -18C. After that they shut off and the oil furnace kicks in. I keep the house around 21C and the oil is set to come on if the temp drops below 17C.

Full disclosure, if we have a strong south wind (60 -100KPH) where the wind hits directly 90 degrees on the outside fan unit, the system looses efficiency and I have to up it to 26C to maintain the 21C. Not sure why that is and I will be contacting my installer about it. Thankfully south winds in the winter are typically warmer and very rare.