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Useful life of residentail heat pumps

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Jack Kagan
Jack Kagan Member Posts: 9
in A-C, Heat Pumps & Refrigeration
What is the published (useful) service life of residential water-to-air heat pumps.  This is in Boston.

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  • Tom Blackwell_2
    Tom Blackwell_2 Member Posts: 126
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    Warranty

    Most units carry a 5-year compressor warranty. Beyond that it's anyone's guess.  I have a WSHP that is 14 years old and still in operation.  A lot depends on the water side and it's potential for corrosion/scaling and whether the unit heat exchanger is cupronickel or plain copper.
  • Tim_75
    Tim_75 Member Posts: 44
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    No answer

    What is the useful life of a car? Impossible to say. No manufacturer publishes anything resembling this kind of data. People might expect it to be accurate!



    OTHO, 10 years for residential equipment in a single family home is a good safe bet. (I qualified that because often residential equipment is used in commercial applications and the life is usually significantly less) Many will last 3 times as long and many will not make the 5 year basic compressor warranty period.
  • Brad White
    Brad White Member Posts: 2,398
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    Useful Life

    ASHRAE (my parent professional organization), publishes a chart with median useful lifespans in years for various types of equipment, pumps, boilers, etc.



    I do not have that chart at hand at the moment, but would guess a median range of 15 years (and can confirm when I get to the office).



    But as Tim and Tom said, it is anyone's guess. Given that the data is "median", it means half live longer, half die younger. Good maintenance and low hours of use naturally lean to longer life.



    Units installed in schools for example, might take a beating and maintenance is often not as diligent (although I might get in trouble for saying so here).  A system serving a data center (24/7/365) has over triple the operation hours of an office. A home, least of all, usually.



    Point being, the information is gathered from all over, but no one states the conditions.
    "If you do not know the answer, say, "I do not know the answer", and you will be correct!"



    -Ernie White, my Dad
  • tim smith
    tim smith Member Posts: 2,752
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    water to air hp lifespans

    I have taken care of water loop heat pumps in bldgs for 25+ yrs. What has always amazed me is that most are still working after that period. I would give water to airs a avg lifespan of 20 yrs on the same site. If system is kept up, water quality pretty good. Can even be longer. This is based on closed to 150 units that we have worked on consistently over the last 25 yrs. Closed loop tower system.
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