Heatpumps are a great way to save money heating your home. They also do air-conditioning in the summer time as an added bonus! This combination of heating and cooling that you get with a heatpump is often a better value than just getting air conditioning alone as it allows your investment to save you money on your heating bills. Heatpumps can normally reduce your heating bills 25% to 70% depending on your current heating method/ fuel source.
Have you ever notice how the air is warm behind your refrigerator but the contents in the refrigerator are cold? That is a heatpump at work. It is pulling heat from the air and food in the refrigerator and pumping it into the room using a refrigeration cycle. The heatpump works the same way by pulling heat out of the air outside even though it may be only 20 degrees outside it can still pull heat out of the air.
Heat pump efficiencies are measured in HSPF in heating and SEER in Cooling. Most Heat pumps range from about 7 HSPF to about 10 HSPF with the higher the number being the more efficient unit. There are some special units out there that have an HSPF as high as 13 which are extremely efficient! Heat pumps are rated in SEER in cooling. SEER ranges from 13 to about 21 SEER. There are some systems that can do up to 30 SEER. In Pennsylvania our cooling demands in residential situations are not as extreme as it is in Louisiana or Florida so we normally recommend Heatpumps that have a higher HSPF rating with a middle of the road 14 to 16 SEER cooling rating for the best value to payback scenario.
Modern heat pumps work well in our Pennsylvania climate with the variable speed and 2 stage compressors as well as better single stage compressors and new technology that is available that can provide usuable heat even below 0 degrees F!
Heatpumps can be tied to ground loops or water wells for what is called Geothermal or ground source Heating and Cooling.
Give Stanley C Bierlys a call to learn more about the right system for your needs.
