Heat pumps are a highly versatile climate control option for just about any home, offering excellent performance as well as tremendous savings. But before you decide to buy one, consider a few things you should know:
There are actually two types of heat pumps. Heat pumps can be divided into air-source and ground-source variants.
An air source heat pump uses outdoor air to gather latent heat during the heating season and release latent heat during the cooling season.
A ground-source heat pump, on the other hand, draws its latent heat from below-ground water sources. It also sends latent heat underground during the cooling season.
They use refrigerant to cool and heat your home. The average air conditioner uses its refrigerant as a medium for collecting latent heat found within indoor air and expelling that heat outdoors. A heat pump follows the same principle during the cooling season, but it completely reverses the process during the heating season, when it uses its refrigerant to draw latent heat from the outdoor air instead.
They can be used with supplementary heat sources. Most heat pumps are designed to be paired with electric, gas, or even oil heat. This can give you an effective fallback if you need a little extra heat during the winter.
Having one installed in your home can help save you money. A typical heat pump is designed to use far less energy for heating and cooling than other types of HVAC systems. An Energy Star-qualified system can save you even more money, as these units use up to 20 percent less energy than standard models.
Buying one can qualify you for a tax credit. Purchasing a ground-source heat pump can qualify you for a federal tax credit toward 30 percent of your system’s total cost.
To learn more about how a heat pump can help keep your home comfortable year-round, contact us at Air Assurance. We proudly serve Broken Arrow and the surrounding areas.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Designua/Shutterstock”