Comment by __MatrixMan__ | Hacker News Reader

Comment by __MatrixMan__ | Hacker News Reader

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I've been on zoom calls with two separate co-workers who are all bundled up because their heat pump can't handle the weather. It doesn't mean that the technology is inadequate in principle--probably their systems have some problem that competent HVAC installers know how to avoid.

But its an unfortunate fact that there are places in the US where installers that recommend heat pumps can't be found for 100 miles. It doesn't really matter if I'm technically correct about the merits of the tech in principle--if I can't find somebody to fix my system and my pipes start exploding, I've still made the wrong decision.

Also, heavy snows cause power outages in places where tree limbs fall on overhead lines. If gas outages happen... well I've never experienced one. Sure, if I lived in Norway I'd have a government that cares about updated infrastructure and I wouldn't have these problems, but since I don't, I do.

Given my local constraints, a dual-fuel system sounds pretty great.

Gas outages happened at a large scale in Texas when they were struggling with a bit of cold weather. When they needed it the most, it failed them. Coal plants also struggled. Both had challenges with supply of fuel and cooling water being disrupted. That kind of systemic infrastructure failures is on the rise in the US. There are all sorts of reasons why governance just isn't great in the US. But the reality indeed is that things are unlikely to improve on that front.

Which are all good reasons why the market for domestic solar, batteries, and heat pumps is so hot right now. The US is no exception to this.

Properly designed heat pump system includes backup for the coldest days - usually direct electric heating.

Most houses in Finland have a (decent) fireplace for heating in case of an electric outage.

> heavy snows cause power outages in places where tree limbs fall on overhead lines. If gas outages happen... well I've never experienced one.

If I lose power, my gas boiler does me no good. A gas boiler will use pumps (and likely a power vent). A gas furnace will use a fan and a power vent.

It's a lot easier to keep a gas furnace running on a generator for an extended period of time than a heat pump.

There are power outages in Norway too - though there are typically years between incidents, and years and years between incidents lasting a day instead of hours (with the exception of certain avalanche-prone areas where this happens much more often than people would like). So my home has a backup system - as do most houses. And that's a wood heater. But my house is so well insulated that it takes a day even in the coldest of winter before I actually need to use it if this happens. Newer houses are also quite much better than mine in this respect.

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