It’s cool that you had liquid based heating a heat pump could tie into, but most of new England is heated by forced hot air systems that don’t tie in the same way. Most heat pump installs around here, and there are a lot, are mostly for cooling and supplemental heating. Having to install an interior unit usually winds them up near the ceiling so the more expensive cooling can fall and cool more efficiently, at the decrease of heating efficiency because it rises. Also, until pretty recently a heat pump was basically no good below zero °f, lots of people still have those units and still need heat in the winter. I resolutely think B20 (20% biodiesel mix) is a great solution for current heating prices, and think a state sponsored program to install the necessary upgrades to burn B50 and get production up to scale would be a really good investment. Big changes are great if you can afford them, but those aren’t the folks I’m talking about. I’m talking about folks using HEAP benefits, people who scrounge up the $450 for a 100 gallon minimum delivery and keep a couple jugs of off-road diesel on hand in case the tank runs dry on a cold day. People that know how to bleed and reignite their furnace without calling the guy, because they’ve had to do it 5 times a winter because keeping oil in the tank means not eating and the stove burns propane, which is already paid for and makes heat too.
Sorry, I’ve had some pretty fucking desperate Maine winters in my years up here.
I do tend to forget that liquid based heating might not be the norm everywhere - here in Denmark it is the most common way to heat your house. Our heat pump operates down to -25C (-13F) and down to -35C (-31F) with reduced heating output and that should be enough for our climate. Not sure how good a “normal” heat pump for a single room can perform in cold weather.
I think it is a good “temporary” solution to convert to as much biodiesel as possible. The other benefit of diesel-based heating is that you don’t require a lot of electricity to run the heater, if power is cut and you rely on battery backup. We do have batteries in our solar cell solution, however the way it is tied together, we can’t provide emergency power from the batteries to the heat pump. Only able to power stuff that requires a normal plug. We have a fireplace in case we run into issues with heating.
IMO we should all change away from fossil / burning for heating, where and when possible. I know it will take a long time to get to that place, especially with new data centers requiring so much power.
It’s cool that you had liquid based heating a heat pump could tie into, but most of new England is heated by forced hot air systems that don’t tie in the same way. Most heat pump installs around here, and there are a lot, are mostly for cooling and supplemental heating. Having to install an interior unit usually winds them up near the ceiling so the more expensive cooling can fall and cool more efficiently, at the decrease of heating efficiency because it rises. Also, until pretty recently a heat pump was basically no good below zero °f, lots of people still have those units and still need heat in the winter. I resolutely think B20 (20% biodiesel mix) is a great solution for current heating prices, and think a state sponsored program to install the necessary upgrades to burn B50 and get production up to scale would be a really good investment. Big changes are great if you can afford them, but those aren’t the folks I’m talking about. I’m talking about folks using HEAP benefits, people who scrounge up the $450 for a 100 gallon minimum delivery and keep a couple jugs of off-road diesel on hand in case the tank runs dry on a cold day. People that know how to bleed and reignite their furnace without calling the guy, because they’ve had to do it 5 times a winter because keeping oil in the tank means not eating and the stove burns propane, which is already paid for and makes heat too.
Sorry, I’ve had some pretty fucking desperate Maine winters in my years up here.
I do tend to forget that liquid based heating might not be the norm everywhere - here in Denmark it is the most common way to heat your house. Our heat pump operates down to -25C (-13F) and down to -35C (-31F) with reduced heating output and that should be enough for our climate. Not sure how good a “normal” heat pump for a single room can perform in cold weather.
I think it is a good “temporary” solution to convert to as much biodiesel as possible. The other benefit of diesel-based heating is that you don’t require a lot of electricity to run the heater, if power is cut and you rely on battery backup. We do have batteries in our solar cell solution, however the way it is tied together, we can’t provide emergency power from the batteries to the heat pump. Only able to power stuff that requires a normal plug. We have a fireplace in case we run into issues with heating.
IMO we should all change away from fossil / burning for heating, where and when possible. I know it will take a long time to get to that place, especially with new data centers requiring so much power.