在寒冷的气候中热泵热加热器
Living in a northern climate, I can’t understand if it makes sense to get a hybrid electric/heat pump water heater for my house. My house is a split level design. The lower level is always colder than the upper level because it is half underground. This is the level that we have an unfinished utility room (housing the water heater) as well as our guest room and the large rec room where we watch tv in the evenings. Since we already struggle keeping the area warm enough in the winter to be comfortable, I am concerned that the hybrid water heater would add to this challenge. But I am really interested in energy efficiency so I want to make sure I fully explore this before I write it off. Can anyone offer some guidance?
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Read this post by Alex Wilson:Heat-Pump Water Heaters in Cold Climates. He addresses your concern around comfort, saying: "In a typical New England [cold-climate] house that has a furnace or boiler in the basement producing a lot of waste heat, a heat-pump water heater can use some of that waste heat and it’s not very noticeable. The less efficient the heating system, the less noticeable is the effect of the HPWH.”
If your main heating system is already struggling, you could turn the hybrid tank into electric-only mode for the cold months. It wouldn't be nearly as efficient but it'd still be good for the other 8-9 months out of the year.
您真的在这里问两个单独的问题。
热泵热水器在冬季从加热系统中取热。这是否是一个好主意，取决于您的加热来源以及您的供暖水的选择。如果您是全电动，通常是有道理的。如果您的天然气可能没有，至少从财务角度来看。但是请记住，在接下来的30年左右的时间里，我们将不得不停止个人燃烧化石燃料。我们开始达到今天安装设备的预期寿命的地步，我们将必须全力以赴。
The second question is that the lower part of the house has trouble maintaining a comfortable temperature. This means your heating system isn't putting out enough heat to make up for heat losses. You either need more heat or less loss (ie more insulation). It could be as simple as balancing your ductwork. Yes, taking heat out of that part of the house without doing anything will make the problem worse. But that's not a flaw of heat pumps.
谢谢 - 您是对的，这是两个单独的问题，我感谢您这样称呼它。我们计划在接下来的6个月内安装太阳能电池板，因此从天然气热水器转换为电动机似乎是没有脑力的。但是，意识到与我们可以生产多少实际使用的能量（根据阴影和我们的屋顶角度，我们估计电热水器最多可以使用我们的年度能源生产的50％），这使得它更多的是一个问题标记我。
As for the other part of the problem, we just had a heating specialist over and all they did was open the dampers more to let more air into the lower level from the upper level and that has had minimal impact. But I suppose that might be worth more investigation.
If solar produces 50% of your annual energy usage, then the question is which 50%, and what produces the rest. I assume the answer to the second question is natural gas in your case. Water heater might be a good candidate for part of the 50% though.
A side benefit of a heat pump water heater is it assists with the cooling in the summer and dehumidifies.