What Are the Links Between the AC and Heat Pump?

When the time comes to replace your cooling system, you'll have the option of choosing between an air conditioner and a heat pump. Knowing more about these two systems will help you make a more informed decision. Let's explore the similarities and differences between an AC and heat pump.

How Are They Similar?

Both an AC and heat pump cool your home by removing heat from it and pumping it to a location outside your house. They use compressed refrigerant to absorb indoor heat and move it outside. It's difficult for the average homeowner to tell the difference between the outdoor unit of a heat pump and an AC system.

When running in cooling mode, there's no significant difference between an AC and heat pump with regard to the method of operation, energy costs, and efficiency.

What Are the Differences?

The primary difference between these systems is an air conditioner can't provide heating, whereas a heat pump can cool and heat your home. Heat pumps have a reversing valve in their outdoor unit that reverses their process of operation.

In the colder months, geothermal heat pumps extract heat from a water source or below the ground, whereas air-source heat pumps absorb heat from the air outside. The heat is transferred inside your home and released into your home's air.

A furnace is usually paired with an air conditioner to provide heating. Together, they make a heating and cooling system. The efficiency of air-source heat pumps is affected when outdoor temperatures fall below freezing. The units use more energy to maintain warm indoor temperatures. As a result, you may need a furnace to act as a backup heating system because it's more efficient than an air-source heat pump during extreme temperatures.

When choosing between an AC and heat pump, what's appropriate for you may not be suitable for someone else due to several important factors. For that reason, it's essential to have an HVAC expert evaluate the heating and cooling needs of your house to determine your ideal choice. If you're in the Broken Arrow area, contact the experienced pros at Air Assurance to handle all your heating and cooling needs.

11 HVAC Terms Every Tulsa Area Homeowner Should Know

When it comes to heating and cooling a Tulsa-area home, homeowners are at a disadvantage. Why? HVAC terms require time to understand them, and heating and cooling is generally not an area of expertise for the average homeowner. With just a little knowledge under your belt, however, you can use these HVAC terms to effectively communicate with your HVAC technician the next time your equipment requires service or repair, or you’re ready to upgrade. Here’s what you need to know:

• Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER), the cooling efficiency rating that reveals a unit’s performance capacity. This rating is used with central air conditioning and heat pumps

• Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE), the rating used to show the efficiency potential for furnaces (and boilers)

• Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (HSPF), the heating term used to show a heat pump’s potential for heating efficiency

• Air handler, the unit that’s located indoors. Consisting of a motor and a fan, the air handler pushes conditioned air into the home

• Condenser, or the heat exchanger, employed in air conditioning and heat pump systems to condense refrigerant into a liquid, which facilities heat transfer

• Heat exchanger, a separate component of the furnace that helps to transfer heat that’s generated by the burners

• Ductwork, the system of interconnected pipes that snake throughout your home to supply conditioned air to the living spaces

• Ventilation system, a mechanical device that encourages air circulation in the home, and facilitates the equal exchange of outgoing and incoming air

• Air filter, the device that filters out impurities from the air before that air supply moves into the heating/cooling system

• Load calculation, a method for calculating the home’s unique heating and cooling load, which is used to help the contractor select the right-sized system

• Manual D, the methodology employed when sizing ductwork

• Manual S, the method used to size the heating or cooling system, used in conjunction with the load calculation

With a few HVAC terms under your belt, contact Air Assurance Heating, Air Conditioning & Plumbing for more information about installing, repairing or maintaining your home’s heating and cooling systems. We've served homeowners in greater Broken Arrow for nearly 30 years.

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). Image courtesy of Shutterstock