Heatpump

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bethd754, Jun 1, 9:11pm
Heatpump recommendation for heating that will stand even a very cold temperature.

gabbysnana, Jun 1, 9:34pm
Our fujitsu , big ducted 16kw in the main house and wall 6kw in the flat were pumping along at -10.5, the other nite.

tygertung, Jun 1, 9:58pm
Yes we have Fujitsu and they are excellent even when it is cold out.

lythande1, Jun 2, 8:40am
Friend in Canterbury bought a house with a heatpump only. She had power cuts for 3 days. put a woodburner in, in the end. cheaper on power bills, doesn't go off in power cuts and you can cook on it.

soundsgood, Jun 2, 9:21am
Which brand wouldn't work in minus 20?

heisei28, Jun 2, 10:26am
At 0 degrees mine shuts off and defrosts itself for 10 minutes.
While doing that it expels cold air. It really sux at 7am.
Panasonic Inverter.
I figured it was one more for the northern climate than the southern.

bethd754, Jun 2, 5:13pm
Thanks everyone for all suggestion, It's nice to know what anyone think about heat pump

tweake, Jun 2, 5:46pm
that happens to all brands and it happens most at 0-4 degree range and worse in the humid climates. thats because the air holds enough moisture which then freezes in the coils. at -20 its not an issue as there is no water in the air.

tweake, Jun 2, 5:50pm
agreed, if your in freezing cold land, have some form of heating and cooking you can run when there is no power. you may not be able to get gas bottles filled if gas station has no power.

tegretol, Jun 2, 11:15pm
Does she think that firewood is cheaper than electricity? Or is the wood free to her?

malcovy, Jun 3, 7:52am
Fire is a nicer heat and heat pump is easier and much cheaper with power than people realise. Wood is very expensive. Have to buy wood, store it, make sure it's properly seasoned etc. On my phone is a app where I can lie in bed and turn heat pump on and get up to a warm room.I had a Daikin installed and I live in Southland and it served me well last winter and so far so good.

tygertung, Jun 3, 8:09am
Wood fire can be cheaper, but it takes a lot of work to cut up all the firewood, split it, store it, bring it in, light the fire, stoke the fire, clean out the ashes, clean the glass etc.

But can still be worth it if you can source free wood.

tegretol, Jun 3, 9:38am
Yep that works when you think your labour is worth sod all.

budgel, Jun 3, 12:01pm
And cutting your own wood warms you twice!

gazzat22, Jun 3, 1:38pm
The last sentence is the main one .It all changes if one is paying $300 plus for Firewood.

martin11, Jun 3, 1:59pm
Pay that for 6m3 wet oldman pine delivered just before xmas and the log fire heats our water .

tygertung, Jun 3, 2:40pm
Well it depends on whether you are going to go out for paid employment at all times.

shelleigh, Jun 3, 2:49pm
OP I choose to have a floor mounted Mitsubishi installed a few years ago because they work when it's down below -10C and are quiet.
However it is definitely dearer to run than to buy wood and coal for our old Yunca multi fuel burner which has a wetback. Also when you turn it off the heat quickly disappears unlike the Yunca which gives off heat for well over eight hours with both dampers turned down.
We find it's a very drying,surface type heat and doesn't warm you through like the heat from a fire.

tweake, Jun 3, 3:43pm
thats more down to the poor quality of the house. lack of insulation and to much air leakage means heat goes outside pretty fast.
in a decent house the house stores the heat and radiates it back to you over night.
used to see a lot of older homes with a brick 'feature' wall inside which adds a lot of thermal storage to the house. thats what your using the yunca fireplace as.

tweake, Jun 3, 3:47pm
every year we see stories of people trying to get firewood at horrific prices over winter.

the other thing is fireplace doesn't cool the house in summer.
however if your in southland i would have both. back up heating that you can cook on is a must have.

gazzat22, Jun 3, 3:47pm
Yep we,re fortunate this end of the country with comparatively short milder winters and a well insulated warm house.

tweake, Jun 3, 4:39pm
yes certainly auckland/northland has that advantage, tho we pay the price with humidity.
tho even our new northland homes are a tad low spec.
at least they are not woefully underspec'ed like southland homes are.

korban, Jun 3, 4:50pm
Minus 10.5 degrees?

stylus1, Jun 3, 4:53pm
heat pumps really lose efficiency around 7 degrees outside. The ones that say they work at low temps have an auxiliary heating element so you lose the savings. Dollar for dollar you can't beat an oil column heater, cheap to buy and totally controllable.

tweake, Jun 3, 5:33pm
yes they loose efficiency, it depends on how much. if its still doing 100% efficient at minimum outdoor temps then its still a win as thats basically the equivalent of any resistance heater.

my panasonics says minimum outdoor temp is -15 which should be fine for anywhere in NZ.

i don't know if our typical heat pumps run booster heaters. the aux heaters is for defrost when the normal defrost dosn't work well.