Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
A forensic investigation by the medical examiner's office determined it was carbon monoxide from a faulty furnace.
@spaf I see you're in a good mood.
@spaf Oh, this is not funny. We lost a friend to this fate. Check your CO detectors.
@alienghic @ELS @spaf Depends on what they use for a back-up heat source...
@agreeable_landfall @alienghic @ELS @spaf heat pumps don’t need a backup heat source
@boffbowsh @alienghic @ELS @spaf That depends on a few factors. In parts of the USA, it gets cold enough that a heat pump can no longer pull heat out of the air. Second, storms can take out the electrical grid, so having an independent source of heat is vital.
This fellow has done some videos on heat pumps and their limitations:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TechnologyConnections/videos
@agreeable_landfall @boffbowsh
Answers are rarely simple, it depends on the specific style of heat hump, how it was installed, and what your competing fuels are.
@agreeable_landfall @boffbowsh @alienghic @spaf Just run a pipe down one meter into the ground and you find the mean annual temperature, which should keep the heat pump going fine.
@ELS @agreeable_landfall @boffbowsh @spaf
That's for ground source heat pumps which can be a good choice if you have room to have some drilling done.
I don't think its as commonly done in cities though, unless its eurropean style district heating
@ELS Everyone should have (at least) both a CO detector and a smoke detector.
@spaf
Ugh, I hate carbon monoxide detectors. All that beeping gives me a headache, nausea, and blurred vision.