(cold weather) Heat pump installers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My experience in Arlington with a major brand top-of-the-line high-efficiency heat pump which is about 8 years old is that it works very well UNTIL outside temps are roughly 25 F or below. Around that outside temperature it starts to use very expensive “electric resistance” heat (which is its backup heating element).

So I do not blame the installer for being reluctant. Many people who move to a heat pump solution become angry/upset with the company which installed it after their winter heating bill soars on very cold days. HVAC Companies try to protect themselves by recommending solutions without that hidden cost, and I do not blame them one bit. My neighbor had exactly that poor behavior the first winter after he replaced gas furnace with a heat pump. He had been cautioned against it.

There are heat pumps now that can work at very low temps. They need to be properly sized, and it becomes a little complicated in the DMV climate because you need the heat pump for heating and cooling. Most houses that are not built to current code are going to have a higher heating load than cooling load. So if you only have a heat pump you need to get a big one, that will be oversized for cooling which makes it inefficient in the summer and can cause humidity issues.

It would be interesting to hear from OP on how it went. All of the PR for cold weather heat pumps focuses on heating efficiency in cold weather climates, not the hot humid climate that is DC in the summer.

[Anonymous]

Not the OP, but we are heating and cooling our 120 year old row house with a heat pump. It works fine and our utility bills are lower than in the apartment, which was a second level of a townhouse, we were renting before. And this is not one of the new generation heat pumps designed for extreme cold but it was at the very high end of what existed 6 years ago when we installed it. It is a carrier infinity system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Here.

I guess I should have specified that I'm looking for a "cold-climate air source heat pump."

Here's a blurb from New York
"Modern cold-climate air source heat pump engineering has evolved to include features that were not available a decade ago, such as variable-speed, inverter-driven compressor technology and improved defrost-cycle controls. As a result, today’s cold-climate air source heat pumps work in very cold weather and are capable of meeting up to 100% of a New York home’s heating needs. While it is true that in years past, traditional air source heat pumps were less effective when temperatures dropped below freezing, a modern cold-climate heat pump... does not have these challenges. In fact, research shows that cold-climate heat pumps can provide comfortable domestic heating when it is as cold as -15°F outside — and that’s air temperature, not wind chill!"

Recently manufactured, high end, high efficiency "normal" heat pumps are just not what I'm looking for precisely because they don't work very well below freezing.

Translation = $$$ repair cost

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The tech from my regular HVAC service company suggested my furnace needs to be replaced. I said I was interested in a heat pump and he was pretty dismissive of the idea.

He was willing to install whatever I wanted. But I'm hesitant to hire someone who doesn't believe in their own product and doesn't really want to do the work.

I want to find someone who really understands the latest technology and who really supports and believes in it (and maybe actually specializes in it). Any recommendations?

Check out the Mitsubishi Hyper Heat line of mini-splits. They work down to -13. I have one and have had no issues with it.

https://www.mitsubishicomfort.com/products/heat-pumps

[Anonymous]

I know this is a bit of a late response but I wanted to say thank you. We're looking to do our hot water heater and HVAC before the tax credits expire. This was helpful information. The mitsubishi site, in particular, because they offer names of people who will install these things. Others have seemed very reluctant.