I see most of the people in the comments here have older model heat pumps.

Newer model heat pumps are quite a bit better than even ones made 10 years ago.

My dad had one put in two years ago for his garage kitchen, and it’s worked quite well, even in fairly cold temperatures. Most importantly, that heat pump doesn’t have an auxiliary mode, and yet it still works in sub freezing temperatures.

It would work even better if it were ground source, but those are both expensive and require digging up the yard.

I have a heat pump heating and cooling my basement in Atlantic Canada.

Temperatures in the winter hold steady around -20C with some dips a few times in the -40c range when accounting for windchill.

Works just fine. I keep my basement a nice 21C. Heating works well. I see lots of disinfo posted online about heat pumps not working in the cold and it’s all horseshit. Make sure you’re buying a heat pump that’s built for colder temperatures and you’re golden.

Define cold.

I have an air-water heat pump as the only source of heat and hot water in my house. It takes heat from the air outside and dumps it into a 200 litre water tank. I’d guesstimate that 80% of the homes in my neighborhood have the same setup.

Temperatures are going to be around -10°C for the next few days. When the silver falls below -15°C a resistive element kicks in to help the pump. In my climate I won’t see more than a handful of those per year.

Nordic models scale down to -30°C before doing the same.

Newer heat pumps are awesome. Northeast USA, with EcoEr brand. Two winters now close to single digits but rarely below freezing and it works like a charm. Mine is rated to operate to -40f. They had to wire it up for single heat source mode, by default they were wired for secondary heat source on the older models. Humidifier module can be added for winter comfort, my neighbor has that. Not sure what the cost tradeoff vs gas is, but it is definitely way cheaper than oil, which is what we replaced. What I like the most about it is that I can wave my two middle fingers at the oil industry and say hello to solar energy.

Summer cooling feels like Arctic cold, and comes with built in dehumidifier for comfort. It definitely works harder to heat in winter than cooling in the summer.

There are mini splits which require less construction, lower cost, with good cooling, but winter heat operating temp stops near 30f.

There’s lots of options out there depending on where you live , budget, needs.

Good luck !

Technology connections has two videos about heat pumps from the perspective of someone in a relatively cold climate https://youtu.be/7J52mDjZzto https://youtu.be/43XKfuptnik

Look up the model number. There are some that maintain 100% capacity down to negative temps, and there are some that lose capacity as the temperature outside drops. You can look up something called a “submittal data sheet” to find out the output capacity at different temperatures.

Capacity is measured in BTUs. So, if the heat pump is a 30,000 BTU model and it’s 47 degrees outside, it may produce 30,000 BTUs. However, at 17 degrees outside, it may only produce 20,000 BTUs. At -5 F, it may only do 10,000 BTU. Other models will keep 30,000 BTUs all the way down to -15F. The trade off is they use more electricity. Checking the data sheet can help you figure out what your model is capable of.

Mitsubishi is generally regarded as the best brand and they sell a line called “hyper heat.” These maintain capacity in low temps. Other brands have similar.

The cold-climate ones start to struggle at around -20C, for reference. (Not the windchill, that’s an imaginary number)

If that doesn’t regularly happen where you live, you’re fine.

I live in the Nordics and my house is prrimarily heated by a geothermal heat pump. The temperature here has been between -20C and -30C for the last week, the pump can easily keep the room temperatures at +19C until the outside temperatures drop under -25C, after that the electric resistor kicks in to provide assistance.

The secondary heat source is the giant baking oven, which i heat every other day if gets this cold. The fully heated oven alone raises the room temperatures by 5-6C, which helps a lot to take the load of the heating pump and keeps the electric bill smaller.

I have been planning to install air/air-water heat pumps to both floors, they would be a good backup during these cold spells and would also provide cooling during the summer. And if I install a smart control system, I can have the air units do extra heating/cooling automatically when the electricity is cheap.

I just haven’t had the time to do the research where it would be best to install them and the prices rose steeply after Russia attacked Ukraine. So I’ll wait for a while before I’ll get those.

This place uses a heat-pump for cooling, in the summer, but it uses a furnace for heating.

It used to reach -20C or colder, here, in the winter…

it’s rained damn-near every week, this winter…

since there is sooo much lag, between the climate-forcing adulteration of our atmosphere,

and the actual climate’s temperature,

it looks like we’re going to be … needing to find some other planet to be inhabiting, in a century…?

Based on actual history, this planet’s current equilibrium-temperature is +5C…+6C, not anywhere near the +1.5C delusion people are still believing-in.

but when one factors-in methane ( & only that one ), that we add, it works-out to +8C…+9C planetary equilibrium… ( using methane’s 20-y equivalent, of 82.5x factor, given the current 1.3ppm to 1.4ppm that we have unnaturally added of methane )

anyways, here’s the link stating that at this atmospheric CO2 the planetary-equilibrium-temperature is between +5C & +6C, in case anyone is interested:

Evolution of global temperature over the past two million years https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19798

Yes, Massachusetts. I have a dual fuel heat pump with natural gas backup installed in 2020, so it’s a newer system. And I have one heat pump mini split in the least energy efficient, but most used room in my house (large, high ceilings, exterior walls on three sides, and a skylight).

The first couple of years I noticed when it got just below freezing, the central heat pump seemed to struggle to keep up. Then this year I replaced my windows and got new wall insulation in both of the main bedrooms and bathrooms (previous insulation was original from the 1960s and shredded to bits with huge gaps.)

After those improvements, I’ve been running my heat pump down to 20⁰F/-7⁰C so far without any issues at all. I’m excited to see how cold we can get and this system still keep up. I am still supplementing my one large room with the mini split, but that’s mostly because all my plants are in here, so I keep this room warmer than 68⁰F/20⁰C.

Yes, and they work great. A good quality one goes to -20 C or even lower

PA isn’t the coldest, but I lived in two different places in PA that had heat pumps. I never had an issue in either place. They were awesome.

Pretty cold (average low temps are below freezing 5 months of the years - lowest about 30 below, though that was before the heat pumps).

Two logs houses - the heat pumps have done a great job, though we still use the wood stoves some (often just for the coziness/nostalgia).

Swede here, my parents use geothermal heating, my apartment has district heating.

If temps are going to be below 30F regularly, you’ll need an auxiliary source. My parents got one last year, if they don’t switch off it’ll run constantly to keep temps at ~55F and drive their electric bill through the roof. It works well for them during the day in the winter most of the time and during the fall and spring.