Heat Pump Questions
- I am thinking
about getting a heat pump, but I have heard that they aren’t very warm, what does this mean?
This idea probably originated from early heat pumps. While they could keep your house warm, the air leaving the registers wasn’t as warm as the air from a forced air gas or oil-fired system. Therefore, while the house might be 70 degrees, the air coming out of the duct would be about 80 degrees, so if you were next to a register the air wasn’t nearly as warm. The cooler air coming out literally felt cold to a lot of people. The new high efficiency heat pumps, especially those with environmentally-friendly Puron® refrigerant, can warm the air to as high as 105 degrees, so the air coming out of the register doesn’t feel nearly as chilly. - What
is the difference between an air conditioner and a heat pump?
An air conditioner and a heat pump are very similar pieces of equipment; they even look the same from the outside, but there is a critical difference. A heat pump serves two functions: you can use it like an air conditioner to cool in the summer, and you can heat your house with it in the winter. It’s easiest to think of a heat pump as simply an air conditioner running in reverse. In the winter, it delivers warm inside and cold air outside; the opposite of an air conditioner. - I have a gas or oil furnace with an air conditioner, and my air conditioner needs to be replaced. Someone said
I should install a heat pump instead. I already have gas or oil heat, so why should I add a heat pump?
With energy prices as unstable as they are, adding a heat pump gives you versatility when it comes to energy choice. The price of natural gas has moved around
so much (mostly upward) that you can save money and energy by using a heat pump for heat. Yet, you still have the option of using “fossil fuels” (natural gas, LP or Oil) when it is more economical. Bryant has taken to calling this system Hybrid Heat. Essentially, the heat pump heats your home in milder winter temperatures and your “fossil fuel” heat heats your home in the colder temperatures.
By the way, we can retrofit almost any existing gas or oil furnace with a heat pump, although depending on the efficiency and type of furnace, your energy savings may not be as great as shown in the Bryant web page demonstration.