By installing a heat pump in his house in the hills of Oslo, Oyvind Solstad killed three birds with one stone, improving his comfort, finances and climate footprint.

Heat pumps can’t take the cold? Nordics debunk the myth::By installing a heat pump in his house in the hills of Oslo, Oyvind Solstad killed three birds with one stone, improving his comfort, finances and climate footprint.

  • Overzeetop@lemmy.worldEnglish
    90·
    1 year ago

    Good Lord - $2600 for a whole house system? I think that’s what my local (mid-Atlantic US) HVAC shop is getting for a single-room mini-split.

    Wait until people find out about ground-source heat pumps and water heater heat pumps. What you get out of those is more consistent year round, too. It’s almost like leveraging technology has benefits over just burning carbon and hydrogen to make heat.

    • happyhippo@feddit.itEnglish
      20·
      1 year ago

      2600 is dirt cheap even by Euro standards, trust me.

      Here in Italy a single room split would cost you around 1k to 2.5-3k depending on the brand.

      A whole house system you’re probably looking at 10k and then some.

    • ikidd@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      1 year ago

      $2600 is utter bullshit. I had several quotes for a 1000sf house, not a single one was under 16000 installed, after rebates. My payback period was going to be almost 20 years even against a medium efficiency gas furnace.

      • timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        And this is why the comments here miss the point- sure, heat pumps nowadays can work that low but in a lot of places the payoff period is well outside what anyone is looking at.

      • Nobsi@feddit.deEnglish
        12·
        1 year ago

        You’re just repeating what all the gas installers keeep repeating so they don’t lose business.
        Every House built after 1990 or houses that have had insulation makovers in the past 20 years are perfectly fine to heat with a heatpump.

    • kameecoding@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      1 year ago

      I don’t think Geothermal makes much sense unless you live in one of the extremes, mainly the cold one, For example I an from Slovakia and I don’t think the temperature here went under -20C in the last few years, I barely remember any days going under - 10C, so you would be paying quite a premium for a geothermal heat pump for rather marginal gains, it would certainly need quite a good analysis if the difference in performance would ever pay for the price difference, especially with better insulation and heat recuperation systems becoming mandatory.

      There are also things like heat pump based driers now on the market btw.

      • Overzeetop@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        I suspect it’s mostly a function of mass availability. Even here in the states ground source heatpumps are rare, even though the systems are more reliable (since there is no equipment exposed to weather) and a shallow borehole isn’t excessively expensive.

        I’d forgotten about heat pump clothes dryers. Those are fascinating, and really interesting for older buildings or locations without close access to exterior venting.

      • barsoap@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Shallow geothermal is basically dead in most of the world because it’s too much hit and miss, the geology is simply too complex and involved (and underground) to predict. There’s also a fuckton of issues with water ingress, minerals that like to expand when getting wet and such. You can’t really take Iceland as an example for countries not straddling a continental rift.

        Deep geothermal is utterly reliable but for the longest time drilling that deep was just too expensive. Plasma deep drilling is a solution but it’s still in its infancy.

    • Avg@lemm.eeEnglish
      5·
      1 year ago

      Half of my house was 8k, the other side I’m planning to install myself because I don’t have that kind of money just waiting to be spent anymore.

    • tony@lemmy.hoyle.me.ukEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Yeah similar in the UK. £3k for a single room mini split. £6k for a two room, etc. There’s no way you’re doing a whole house for less than bend-over money.

    • regbin_@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      Wow that’s really pricey. Here in Malaysia a 2 HP mini split with inverter costs roughly RM 2400 including installation (around $500).

      Granted the average salary here is much lower but it’s amazing how much the prices differ given that they all basically come from the same factory.