Goodman Heat Pump Test Proves Huge Savings - Startling!

     The Goodman heat pump test proves very convincingly that IceCOLD will revolutionize thinking about heat pumps.  After a 65 day test, the results are now in; our first look gives results even more exciting than our most optimistic expectations.

     In a preliminary post, we noted that IceCOLD was improving low temperature performance and those improvements got better as it got colder outside.  While this was expected, we were short-sighted and cut off the testing at +5 degrees outdoors.  During the last cold snap, we saw temperatures to -3 degrees and got huge results.  The catalysts greatly improved coil performance and system capacity so that the system continued delivering very warm air (108 deg F) down to the very limit of the testing. Prior to the installation,  the system achieved 108F only down to + 17 deg F outdoor temperature.

   The benefit of this increased heating capacity will be huge in climates where these temperatures are common.  In this part of Kansas, we have 550 annual hours of heating at 17 degrees and below and a heat pump must supplement its capacity with more expensive means.  We call this the thermal balance point.  Lowering the balance point to -3 means that only 23 hours of annual supplemented heating, a reduction of 96% in this expensive heat.

   The thermal balance point at Goodman's facility was demonstrated to be +6 prior to product installation and was below the limits of the temperatures available after the test.  No supplemental heating was needed after the installation of IceCOLD.  Rather, the system was still cycling between stage I and stage II at -3 degrees Fahrenheit.

   As you can see from the chart above, the installation of IceCOLD improved capacity for both stage I and stage II operation, extending the usefulness of the heat pump to colder weather conditions.   Because the testing was carried out in actual field conditions, not all combinations of staging and ambient conditions could be tested.  As an example, there was not sufficient data during the pre-test period to study system capacity at low stage below +11 degrees F.  The system did not operate long enough in that mode to establish a stable data set.  

   This test was conducted with field grade data logging equipment that was verified both before and after the testing period.  We attempted at each point to be certain that the data set was solid and that all independent variables were eliminated.  Nonetheless, we find the results so startling that we encourage and even insist that other researchers conduct their own test and even to challenge these results.  We will continue this series and post all results promptly.