Electric Radiators - Should I Avoid This Rental?

[IT Minion]

I had an air source heat pump in my old house.

Below a certain outside temperature (minus 2 c?) they won't work on heating cycle.
Which is obviously when you really need them to.

Modern ones will work very low and have resistive backups if it's really really bad.

If they can work in Sweden (with properly designed buildings and selected heat pumps) then they can work here (with properly designed buildings and selected heat pumps).

The heat pump - a Swedish success story!

The sale of heat pumps has more than doubled in Sweden in the last 14 years - there are now 1,7 million heat pumps installed in the country that has 10 million inhabitants. At the Arena for Sustain

heatpumpingtechnologies.org

 

[Brigadier]

Modern ones

This one was only about ten years old, an Hitachi or Mitsubishi iirc

 

[Brigadier]

Do heat pumps work in cold weather? Plus, their efficiency in winter explained

How do heat pumps perform when temperatures fall? Renewables expert David Hilton explains the impact of cold weather on heat pumps and why they are a good choice for the British climate

www.homebuilding.co.uk

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

I'm aware of the issues with old-fashioned air con systems. The modern systems are nothing like them.

For starters there's no air ducting. The only thing that moves is refrigerant fluid, in copper pipes. Each ceiling unit sucks in air via a washable filter, blows it through a heat exchanger (to cool or heat) and back into the same room.

It exactly the same as a multi-split heat pump, just in the ceiling instead of screwed to the wall. Perfect for a bungalow with a massive loft and concrete floors. One example unit...

1 Way Cassette - Single Split - HVAC | Business | LG Global

LG 1 Way Cassette provides enhanced comfort with its flexible installation and capability to deliver wider, healthier airflow into any interior.

www.lg.com

These systems are the default heating system in much of the civilised world. Sadly in the UK we're very attached to the idea of radiators and setting fire to stuff. This means that installers and supplies are very hard to find at the moment, I attempted to get quotes but have given up for a couple of years, hopefully while the UK heating industry catches up with the rest of the world.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

Do heat pumps work in cold weather? Plus, their efficiency in winter explained

How do heat pumps perform when temperatures fall? Renewables expert David Hilton explains the impact of cold weather on heat pumps and why they are a good choice for the British climate

www.homebuilding.co.uk

Lots of these things are based on old models, badly selected systems or dodgy installation.

Manufacturers state some pretty good temperature ranges these days, and they are routinely installed in countries that are much colder than the UK.

I suspect we in the UK suffer from fear of change and bad information.

But... even if efficiency does drop in extremely cold weather, that's a tiny minority of the time in the UK. Most of the time it's just a bit chilly.