Bosch Home Comfort Group, a unit of German industrial conglomerate Robert Bosch GmbH, recently launched a residential air-to-air heat pump designed specifically for heating in cold climates.
“Unlike most air-to-air heat pumps, it was developed for areas with harsh winters,” the company said in a statement. “Traditionally, air-source heat pumps have the advantage of being relatively affordable and easy to install, and like all heat pumps they can cool as well as heat. They have the disadvantage, however, of not working very well in extremely cold temperatures.
The #Bosch IDS Ultra Heat Pump, was developed for North America and it‘s operational down to temperatures of 5 degrees Fahrenheit – an attractive option for people in colder climates looking to switch from fossil fuel-based heating systems. #BoschCES https://t.co/7CQZIcXK26
— BoschPress📰 (@BoschPress) January 10, 2024
According to the manufacturer, the new Inverter Ducted Split (IDS) Ultra heat pump can provide 100% heating capacity at an outdoor temperature of -15 C and can operate down to – 25 C.
The system utilizes an inverter that reportedly adjusts the speed of the compressor to optimize comfort and sound levels to a minimum.
“The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) confirmed that Bosch’s cold climate heat pump meets the requirements to progress from lab to field testing as part of the Residential Cold Climate Heat Pump Technology Challenge,” Bosch said, without providing further technical details on the new product.
The IDS Ultra Heat Pump belongs to Bosch's Inverter Ducted Split (IDS) Heat Pump series, which includes four other products – the IDS Light, the IDS Plus, the IDS Premium, and the IDS Premium Connected.
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In many parts of the US the overnight lows during the last few days have been minus 11 or lower … Fahrenheit! So, is this really a viable option for colder climates? Today in Chicago it was -11 at just after dawn.
Some quick maths says that is minus 24C in regular units, and the article says it works down to -25C.
However, I would always recommend over sizing the heat pump and providing a thermal store, which would allow the heat pump to pause in really low temperatures, and wait for the day time high.
No idea
My take is it operates at – 25 but it is effective to 5 degrees. Even still this will cover a wide latitude of temperatures. I for one will embrace a performer at 5 degrees. It’s 10 F in Southern New England this morning, even if it was working marginal it still beats the 6 wheelbarrow loads of wood I threw on the fire yesterday.
We just bought the Bosch IDS Premium system three months ago and it’s pretty awesome. It’s supposed to be good down to -4F and then Aux heat takes over. I’m curious what the price and performance difference is to the Ultra version so I can talk about it with my neighbors who might be on the fence.
On Canada it hit -40C with the wind chill.
Was -41 without windshill factor in Calgary.. so more like -54 tbh.
not sure how this is some kind of secret new technology from Bosch, Mitsubishi has had the hyper heat system since 2007 and their system is rated at 100% capacity down to about -17°c (0°f) and can also operate down to -25°c (-13°f) I’ve had a Mitsubishi hyper heat system for a few years now in upstate NY and have only had like 2 times it couldn’t keep up and it was probably around -15°f outside, if possible it wouldn’t hurt to have a backup for the rare times it gets that cold up here but overall ive been very impressed with mine
Could you provide a) approximate sq ft heated area of your home, b) assuming you switched from oil heating, electricity cost increase per month for heating season, c) back up system type?
Thank you for taking interest & time to post your experience.
Alton, NH
No mention of cop at different temps, pretty meaningless article.