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Community and Q&A

Heat Pump Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (HSPF)

PMatt | Posted in General Questions on

Hi,

does a heat pump operating Washington DC on average perform any worse than its official HSPF rating indicates ( if properly installed, sized, charged etc).  The issue is that in cold climate the nominal HSPF rating will obviously not be achieved and it will over-achieved in hot climates . My understanding is that the nominal rating is for climate zone 4, which DC is in.  If you have reference to papers studying the issue, that would be great.  Thanks!

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Replies

  1. GBA Editor
    Kiley Jacques | | #1

    Hi Matt,

    I’m giving your question a bump in hopes an HVAC expert or someone with related experience will share some thoughts.

  2. Jon_R | | #2

    Lots of info below. Being in Z4 and HSPF using a Z4 reference, I suspect that you won't have data necessary to make a much better estimate than the HSPF rating.

    https://www.aceee.org/files/proceedings/2004/data/papers/SS04_Panel1_Paper08.pdf

  3. PMatt | | #3

    Thanks Jon. My understanding is that the HSPF rating is designed for Climate Region 4, which is what DC is in. And yet our local natural gas utility runs a cost comparisons between heating with natural gas and heating with a heat pump that de-rates the stated HSPF of the heat pump in order to ostensibly account for "local climate".

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