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Comment by jacobaul | Hacker News Reader

Here is a great Technology Connections video which lays out why the sizing issue might not be as bad as you're thinking. The gist is that many people are steered away from heat pumps (or sold very expensive oversized units) by outdated industry thinking which vastly overestimates load calculations.

I won't try to make his case here, but he is pretty convincing that a reasonably sized heat pump system can be sufficient even in very cold climates (by US standards).

https://youtu.be/DTsQjiPlksA

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It's all theoretical. In real life, retrofitting heat pumps into exisinting homes is a bit different, as those homes are neither made for air heat sources (at least in my region), nor they are insullated well. You might say, dough, insulate it, but it is easier said than done, as a lot of those old homes relied on their leakage for ventilation, not to mention that is very expensive investment (much more expensive than the heat pump itself).

I would reccommend keeping backup heat source when installing heat pumps into older homes. A simple wood stove, used during cold spikes, could be enough.

My country has subsidies for heat pump installations into older homes and it had requirement to get rid of chimneys to get that. After the whole europe energy crisis thing, this requirement is gone now. Turns out having alternatives is a good thing :)

I live in Canada in an older home with terrible insulation.

Out two tonne heat pump works just fine even at -25C this past winter.

We still have a natural gas furnace but our gas usage is down 65% despite this winter being colder than last year’s.

Tell me again how heat pumps don’t work in colder climates?

This is why I opposed historical designations. Most old buildings are obsolete and need to be destroyed. There are only a tiny number of buildings that are really historic, sure save them, but the vast majority are just old and need to be knocked down for something better. If it isn't taught in history class then it isn't historic.

It is easy to see the loss of something old. However the opportunity cost from not building new is something that is very hard to get people to understand.

This is not theoretical: my heat pump purchased in 2021 worked well for four straight days of below 0F. Kept our temp at 68 inside. We live in an old home from 1917 with poor insulation between the brick exterior walls and drywall.

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