Everything You Need to Know About Heat Pumps

As a homeowner, it pays to understand your various options for heating and cooling your home throughout the year. One product that has been getting a lot of traction in recent years is the heat pump. In this short article, we’re going to discuss how heat pumps work and how they can be beneficial for your home.

Heating and Cooling

Many people are confused about learning that heat pumps can provide air conditioning for a home. Heat pumps can be utilized as a single system that can provide heat for your home in the wintertime and air conditioning for your home in the summertime. It gets its name from the type of process it utilizes for heating and cooling.

Heat Transfer

A heat pump is specifically designed to transport heat from one location to another. It does this through a substance known as a refrigerant and a pump to move that refrigerant back and forth. In the wintertime, your heat pump will get heat from outside and transport it into your home.

Powered By Electricity

Unlike many furnaces, heat pumps are specifically designed to run on electricity. Most of the time, they are not using electricity to generate heat. Rather, electricity is only used to pump the refrigerant throughout the system to transport heat from one location to another. This can make running heat pumps more energy efficient than traditional heating and cooling systems.

Auxiliary Heating

While heat pumps can be a great way to help save money on heating and cooling throughout the year, they do have a downside. When temperatures outside reach below freezing in the wintertime, it’s tough for your heat pump to find enough heat to transport into your home. This is when auxiliary heating kicks on.

Auxiliary heating in a heat pump works by using electricity to heat up a coil and then blow that warm air throughout your home. This can be thought of as similar to an electric baseboard heater. As you’ve probably guessed, switching your heat pump to auxiliary heating can drastically increase your energy bills.

Dual Systems

Many homeowners love how energy-efficient a heat pump can be throughout the summer and mild winter months. However, if you live in a region of the country that experiences below-freezing temperatures regularly, having a heat pump in the wintertime as your only source of heat is going to be not so energy efficient.

This is where installing a dual heating system comes into play. You can have your heat pump installed so that you can use it for summertime cooling and wintertime heating when temperatures are above freezing. As temperatures drop below freezing and your heat pump switches to auxiliary heating, a dual heating system will switch over to the other heating source until temperatures rise. Most homeowners will couple their heat pump with a furnace to supply adequate heat at an affordable price throughout the winter months.

Air Source and Ground Source Heat Pumps

Another necessary aspect to know about heat pumps is that they can come in two forms. These include the air source and the ground source heat pumps. Air source heat pumps will pull heat out of the air outdoors and transport it to the inside of your home.

On the other hand, ground source heat pumps will pull heat out of the ground and transport it into your home. These heat pumps are commonly referred to as geothermal pumps, and they tend to be more expensive to install. However, they are much more energy-efficient, quieter during operation, require little maintenance, and last much longer than air-source heat pumps.

What Size Do You Need?

Heat pumps are generally measured by how much air they can move. They are given ratings by the ton ranging from 1.5 to 5 tons. Generally, you’ll need about 1 ton for every 400 square feet of your home. If your home is around 2,000 square feet, you’ll need a 5-ton heat pump to heat and cool it adequately.

Reliable Heat Pump Service

Simmons Heating & Cooling offers reliable heat pump service for the entire Chesapeake, VA community. We also assist with heating, cooling, indoor air quality, radiant heat, generator, air purification, ductwork, water heater, and boiler services. Call our office today to schedule your next service appointment.