ᐅ How complex are heat pumps in everyday use?

Created on: 22 Nov 2021 11:47
H
hampshire
The discussions in the threads about heat pump consumption and supply temperature settings are full of technical terms, values, and configurations. It is sometimes mentioned that installers pay little attention to optimal adjustments, and that one should be more careful during the system design phase. From what I understand, incorrectly sized and/or poorly adjusted heat pumps lose their economic advantages. Therefore, I have three questions:

1. How much knowledge and skill does a homeowner actually need to acquire in order to achieve the cost-effectiveness they expect from their decision?

2. How likely is improper use by inexperienced users who simply want to have a comfortable temperature in their home?

3. What habits does a person need to give up when living for the first time in a house with a heat pump in order to achieve the expected cost-efficiency?
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Deliverer
23 Nov 2021 19:50
Alessandro schrieb:

eh. For the traffic network, it actually makes more sense if everyone commutes at the same time and for 3 hours ...

So—this is my final attempt, and maybe it helps to stick to your example:
If the commute time and the number of workers traveling each hour are the same, it is better for cars to enter the highway evenly from each ramp via a roundabout, rather than placing a traffic light at each ramp that releases a large number of cars onto a single on-ramp all at once. That causes congestion and fewer cars arrive on time. This leads to those running late accelerating extra hard, which causes even more traffic jams. In other words, the network becomes overloaded, and energy consumption increases.

Oh, and no utility company has any interest in ERRs with underfloor heating. What you’re referring to is the remote shutdown of heat pumps during peak times. There is no connection.
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Alessandro
23 Nov 2021 20:11
What a comparison!!! Where and what are the traffic lights supposed to be in the power grid? What about the roundabouts?
Why do you think there is a requirement for an ERR (electrical reliability report)? Is it just because the Ministry for the Environment wanted to fool people on a Saturday?
But yes, I know. A deliverer has to deliver.
Thank you for explaining the world to me and now I know that 5 years of studying were completely wasted!
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Deliverer
23 Nov 2021 20:28
Staying on topic probably didn’t help...
And sorry—I didn’t know you had a degree. In that case, you probably noticed that everyone here disagrees with you, which will likely lead you to do some more research on the subject.
And regarding the usefulness of the regulations set by the outgoing federal government as well as their stance on the economy and science, I guess I don’t need to say anything further.
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Alessandro
23 Nov 2021 20:33
I don’t see any contradiction. It’s always just a comparison of apples and oranges. But yes, I will read up on it again…
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Oetzberger
23 Nov 2021 20:34
Deliverer schrieb:

In that case, you might have noticed that everyone here is disagreeing with you,
To continue with the highway example: This morning, on my commute, I encountered hundreds of wrong-way drivers who not only honked at me rudely but also performed reckless evasive maneuvers. Crazy!
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RotorMotor
23 Nov 2021 21:33
Disclaimer: everything that follows is actually unrelated to the topic.
Alessandro schrieb:

This causes the heat pump to stop running continuously and have more frequent downtime.
In turn, this relieves the power grid.
The latter is incorrect.

Let's do a thought experiment:
We have 10 heat pumps, each delivering 24 kWh of thermal energy to the house per day.

Option 1: steady 1 kW -> maximum "grid load" 10 kW
Option 2: cycling 1 hour off, 1 hour on at 2 kW -> maximum "grid load" 20 kW
Option 3: cycling 3 hours off, 1 hour on at 4 kW -> maximum "grid load" 40 kW

Here we can see that by cycling or having off periods, the peak load increases, thus putting more strain on "the grid" than systems that modulate down and run continuously.
Of course, there are many intermediate variants and even more extreme ones, but none have a lower maximum load than Option 1.