Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

dirk23wright t1_iqs33at wrote

Reply to comment by arfbrookwood in Shocked by gas bills, thrifty Dutch stockpile coal, wood for winter by clampie

I realize that.

These days, I believe they make various kinds of air heat pumps that work in cold temperatures. As others have said, they have air heat pumps that are still effective below 0 deg C.

In the Netherlands, there's no excuse to not have an air heat pump if you have a house. It doesn't get cold enough there to worry about efficiency loss. Why they insist on coal and wood is beyond me. Not only that, they aren't even buying good wood stoves, but regular ones. They're not buying the masonry types that have convoluted flues inside of them. Thermal efficiency is dramatically improved that way. Oh well. Just because they're European doesn't mean they're the sharpest tool in the shed.

I think the aversion to most air heat pumps is that they may hate blowing air. I know that Swedes generally don't like forced warm air heating. I assume the Dutch are similar, but I could be wrong.

3

Dewey_Cheatem t1_iqu3dw9 wrote

>I think the aversion to most air heat pumps is that they may hate blowing air. I know that Swedes generally don't like forced warm air heating. I assume the Dutch are similar, but I could be wrong.

It's mainly because construction companies cheapened out when they installed heatpumps in newly build houses. Undersized heatpumps hurt their reputation a lot.

And in existing houses you are looking at a 25k investment, plus a increase monthly electricity bill just for having more than 35A single phase.

1