Inverter Heat Pumps

[Poolnewb105]

Hey guys, I noticed in countries like Australia there are several manufacturers (including Hayward) that produce inverter driven heat pumps that are significantly more efficient and quieter than the on/off scroll compressor heat pumps available to us in the US. Why do you guys think these products aren't available to us here? I emailed Hayward about it and they said they're not aware of any plans to bring inverter driven heat pumps to the States.

 

[JoyfulNoise]

My primary guess would be regulatory - the Australian government might mandate greater efficiency standards than the US. Variable speed compressor heatpump (note - not variable speed blower motors in the air handler) are more complicated than standard scroll driven compressors. They are also designed to run continuously (or as long as possible) rather than start/stop. So their equipment cost is greater. I would guess that, given the size/volume of their heatpump business, Hayward likely isn’t interested in asking consumers to pay that hefty premium. And, as general rule of thumb in business, you don’t offer competing products within your business - either your heatpumps are standard type or inverter type, you don’t create product competition inside your business.

 

[pooldv]

We installed a new Climatemaster geothermal heat pump in the Texas house a few years ago. Choices were regular old scroll compressor, 2 stage compressor and variable speed compressor. I don't recall the price differences but we went with 2 stage which wasn't much more money but offered quite a bit more efficiency. The variable speed compressor was quite a bit more money and didn't seem worth the extra money and possible problems with "new" technology.

 

[Poolnewb105]

My primary guess would be regulatory - the Australian government might mandate greater efficiency standards than the US. Variable speed compressor heatpump (note - not variable speed blower motors in the air handler) are more complicated than standard scroll driven compressors. They are also designed to run continuously (or as long as possible) rather than start/stop. So their equipment cost is greater. I would guess that, given the size/volume of their heatpump business, Hayward likely isn’t interested in asking consumers to pay that hefty premium. And, as general rule of thumb in business, you don’t offer competing products within your business - either your heatpumps are standard type or inverter type, you don’t create product competition inside your business.

This makes sense.