Heat Pump and Related Articles

Stand alone heat pump hot water tanks are appliances that move energy from air to water. Some of these water tanks have cylindrical ducting connections, allowing a homeowner to choose the source location that the heat pump will intake air from and exhaust air to. This article will discuss the best strategy for venting your heat pump hot water tank.

The first question we must ask when determining an optimal venting strategy is; Should we vent to and from the outside of the residence? Most heat pump types, such as a geothermal or mini split, are designed to move energy from outside the house to the inside. For most North Americans, a stand-alone heat pump hot water tank cannot intake air from outside the house. The outside air will get too cold during the winter and the heat pump will no longer be able to operate. In the summer, a heat pump water heater becomes the most efficient home cooling device possible by converting hot air to hot water instead of sending hot air energy outside like an AC, but this benefit is only possible if the water tank unit intakes indoor air.

So, we now know that a heat pump hot water tank should not have its air intake port ducted to receive outdoor air, but should we vent the output air outside? It makes sense at first thought, if the heat pump hot water tank strips energy from the air when converting it to hot water, that air is now colder than it was when it went into the heat pump exchanger. Thus, if we vent that colder air directly outside instead of back into the house, we will not cool the house in the winter.

As compelling as that explanation might sound, it is incorrect. Venting the output air from a heat pump hot water tank outdoors is the most inefficient thing you could do with your tank. Why? If you vent your output air outside, you lose all the energy that was in that air, minus the energy you captured into the domestic hot water system.

Here is a practical example of this. Your heat pump hot water heater intakes 1 cubic foot of air that has been heated to 20C by your home heating system. The heat pump exchanger pulls energy from that air, and that 1 gallon is now 15C. 5C worth of energy has been moved to the hot water system. If the outside temperature is -10C and you exhaust the 1 cubic foot of air outside, your home heating system now needs to heat 1 cubic foot of air from -10C to 20C to replace it. If you instead vent your output air inside, your home heating system only has to heat that 1 cubic foot of air from 15C to 20C, and since you captured 5C into your hot water system, no energy has been lost, just moved.

You can see in this example, that venting the output of a heat pump hot water heater is about as efficient as keeping a small window open in your house all winter.

In the summer, if you vent your output air outside you end up cooling the atmosphere instead of your home.

So, is there ever a reason to vent the input and output air from your heat pump hot water tank? Yes, so long as the source for those vents is inside air. Venting within the house can allow a homeowner to pull and push air strategically. The ideal intake/output vent location would be on the ceiling of the top floor in a house. The air below this ceiling will likely be the hottest air in the house throughout the year, and it is also less useful air in terms of human comfort, making it an ideal intake and exhaust spot.

If your heat pump hot water tank does not have air ducting ports, do not worry. For the average homeowner, venting your heat pump’s air wherever the heat pump tank is located is absolutely sufficient.

VT, USA is the one of the first states to offer an aggressive rebate program specific to hydronic heat pumps. Air to water heat pump qualify for $500 rebate per nominal ton of output. This is a great news for Arctic Heat Pumps as all three of the EVI heat pumps qualify for the Efficiency Vermont energy program.

Dan Jung – (CEO Arctic Heat Pumps) is awards Top 10 Innovative leaders in renewable energy for 2023. This comes after years of hard work to break the status que in a mature HVAC industry.  Cold Climate Heat Pumps have only recently taken center stage as a viable alternative to traditional heating systems. “The HVAC industry has many challenges… Change comes slowly, but surely!” quotes Dan Jung.

With an expanding growth of Arctic Distributors and Wholesalers across North America, Artic Heat Pumps has become a mainstream brand for Hydronic Air-to-Water Heat Pumps. The growth is rapid as homeowners are now embracing the technology and more and more contractors see the long-term sustainability of cold climate heat pumps.

Low temperature pool heat pumps as well as hybrid pool heat pumps that heat and cool are also center stage in the pool industry with Arctic Heat Pumps leading the way in this market as well.  Global warming has resulted in the need for pool chillers to actually reduce pool temperatures in the summer months for added comfort in many parts of the USA and Caribbean. 

Heat Pumps have been around in the USA and Canada for over 50 years so why has their popularity grown so much in the last 10 years?   Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Vermont, Maine and New York all seem to be hot spots in North America for heat pump installations.   Perhaps it is the combination of a perfect climate for a heat pump combined with higher than average energy cost?  Or perhaps it that installers and contractors feel confident that a heat pump in Nova Scotia will work better than any other type of heating option?    When a recent heat pump customer in Maine was asked about why he purchased a cold weather heat pump his answer was because my neighbor purchased one of your heat pumps last year.  So perhaps it is the “Jones” effect that people are buying cold weather heat pumps in North Eastern USA more than anywhere else simply because their neighbors are buying them and it has reached a critical mass?

News Release

Dec 22, 2023

Arctic Heat Pumps successfully completes its application with California Energy Commission (CEC). What is often referred to a Title 20, is a strict set of rules and regulations, combined with federal standards, to set minimum efficiency levels for energy and water consumption in products, such as consumer electronics, household appliances, and plumbing equipment. California standards set the path for most to follow. They are considered the premier energy standards and measurements for heat pumps.

Northern Lights successfully certified 4 of their pool heat pumps to meet and exceed the CEC stringent energy efficiency standards with COP ratings as high as 6.2 as well as safety and performance standards. CEO Dan Jung comments that “California has always been a great market for our pool heat pumps. The ability to both heat and cool as well as the tremendous COP energy savings has become very attractive for the California pool climate. There are a lot of pool and hot tub owners that live in areas that require the low operating temperature that gas pool heaters can’t deliver such as in the mountains. The Arctic Heat Pump fits all those needs.” California represents over 12% of the entire population of the United States and is considered the most aggressive state in the USA for clean and renewable energy. California leads the way in mandating ‘Electrification’. “Having the CEC approve our product just opens more doors to an already strong heat pump market”, comments Dan Jung.

One of the most often overlooked areas of a Hydronic Air to Water Heat Pump is the ability to cool as well as heat. Most home owners are familiar with the advantage of radiant floor heating versus centralized forced air heat, but most home owners including builders have no idea that radiant floor cooling is possible and can be very cost effective for those building a home with hydronic heat. Radiant cooling is quiet, dust free, efficient and has been used in Europe for decades. Most important, studies in USA by Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory in California estimate the energy saving of radiant floor cooling to be over 30% of traditional forced air cooling!

If you are in new construction phase or retrofitting an existing construction, let us help. We can assist you through the entire design process, as well as put together a complete integrated hydronic heating package from the air to water heat pump to the PEX piping and manifolds and everything in-between!

Large Scale Systems can be done by adding multiple heat pumps in parallel. When doing so we recommend the RESOL MX Controller which can pair up to 13 units in series for a very large system size. When adding multiple heat pumps, pipe sizing should be increased after the header to accommodate the added flow of more than one pump. Example if there are three units with 1” piping each, after the header, the piping to the tank should be 1 ¼”-1 ½” (consult a plumber for more technical specifications).

Arctic Heat Pumps with EVI technology are able to heat a house with outdoor temperatures as low as -30 C (-22F). Variable speed compressor technology adds to the efficiency of these air to water heat pumps. The hydronic heating system can replace most boilers and are ideal for heating with radiant floors, central air handlers or individual room fan coils.

One of the most asked question is do I need a buffer tank with a hydronic heat pump? Despite trying to save some dollars by not purchasing a buffer tank, it is always recommended and should be included in any hydronic heat pump system including both geo thermal and low temperature heat pumps such as Arctic Heat Pump. There are a few reason why a buffer tank is used.

The Hydronic industry like many other industries has seen a massive shift in focus towards energy efficiency in recent times. Energy Saving Products, who manufactures the Hi-Velocity system, is at the forefront of this shift. Their flagship Hi-Velocity forced air system brings advancements to the hydronic forced air market that are sure to trickle down to the entire industry in the future. Arctic Heat Pumps has partnered with E.S.P in an effort to provide our customers with the ultimate complete home heating and cooling package. Our EVI heat pumps, known industry wide for their cold weather productivity, efficiency and reliability, paired with these modern forced air systems creates a home heating system that is top of class in efficiency, customizability, comfortability, and reliability.

Geothermal heat pumps have been around since the 1980’s and are considered a mature technology. They work well and provide home owners great savings. Both geothermal and air source heat pumps work using virtually the same technology, however low energy costs in North America has resulted in low adoption of Heat pump technology which was more commonly implemented in Europe and Asia.

The majority of our customers use either centralized hydronic forced air (Air Handlers) or in floor radiant systems to distribute their heat pump’s energy into their home air. However, hydronic fan coils are also a great option for some customers and are sometimes overlooked. We have put together a list of situations that would warrant us to recommend that a customer investigate incorporating a fan coil system for their home heating/cooling project instead of hydronic forced air or in floor radiant.

Arctic Cold Climate Heat Pumps are specifically designed to work in temperatures below freezing as low as -25C (-15F). Few people realize that the air below freezing has nearly the same amount of relative energy as it does above freezing. By understanding the concept that air contains energy, we can then begin to understand how a cold climate heat pump can work. Only in space where the temperature is -273 C (absolute zero) is there no energy left in the air.

British Columbia is the one of the first provinces to offer an aggressive rebate program specific to hydronic heat pumps. This provincial initiative is offering up to $4300 in rebates for B.C. residents who are switching from fossil fuels to a qualified air source heat pump like Arctic.

The Arctic Heat Pump is already the most energy efficient air source heat pump for cold climates on the market in North America. However, this is not the only reason that our heat pumps are industry leading for hydronic heating and cooling applications. All of our systems are designed to quickly integrate with a solar thermal heater. This can increase the overall efficiency and operating costs of your system by a further 20%.