Heat pumps are marvels of modern technology. Our area is full of homeowners that think they sound good in theory, but because of their lack of experience with a heat pump, or lack of knowledge about this heating system, they’re quick to purchase a furnace instead. The truth of the matter is, heat pumps are an effective and incredibly efficient means of heating and cooling a home, that can be explained pretty easily.
That’s what we’re going to try and do! If you’ve ever thought about joining our Comfort Zone and investing in a heat pump installation here in Birmingham, then listen up! We’ll start by explaining just how a heat pump works and what it can do to provide your home with quality heat in the winter, and comfort in the summer.
Think we’re kidding? Keep reading and you’ll get the gist of it.
How It Works
Heat pumps aren’t just furnaces with a different name, they provide a completely different type of heating. Instead of burning fuel or consuming electricity to create heat, a heat pump moves heat from one location to another using refrigerant lines, a compressor pump, and a blower fan. If it sounds simple, don’t worry—it is!
By cycling around this pressurized refrigerant using the compressor, it draws in heat from the outside and brings the heat with it to be deposited by an air handler inside your home. That’s it! Heat pumps only require the electricity to cycle refrigerant and keep it pressurized, while blowing the heated air into your home. It’s a simple solution for a pretty basic problem.
Examples of Modern Heat Pumps
If you live in a 21st century home, chances are you’ve already got a heat pump working under your nose and you would never consider life without it. That’s right, your refrigerator! Refrigerators pump heat from inside the unit to the outside, essentially functioning as a heat pump in reversal mode! Refrigerators are miniature versions of heat pumps, since they don’t need to heat or cool an entire home, just a box to frigid temperatures.
Increased Efficiency
What makes a heat pump so efficient? Well, it uses electricity to move heat from one location to the other. It turns out that creating heat is a much more energy-intensive process than moving it. Also, electricity is an increasingly affordable energy source when we’re still servicing heaters that run on oil or propane, so a heat pump’s reliability on electricity is a huge benefit.
Where heat pumps begin to lose efficiency, is when it gets extremely cold outside. It takes more energy to draw in heat when temperatures are constantly dipping below freezing and lower. In northern climates where temperatures can hover around 0° Fahrenheit for many months, a heat pump might be a more expensive and less efficient solution than something like a boiler or a furnace. Ultimately, the choice is yours and a heat pump is an effective option.
If you never considered investing in a heat pump before, now is a great time!
Contact Sullivan Service Co today to schedule the installation of your brand-new heat pump!
