Did You Know Heat Pumps Can Improve Your Home Efficiency?

If you need carbon dating to determine the age of your old heating and cooling systems, you’re going to love the energy efficiency of heat pumps manufactured today. That should come as superb news considering nearly half of the average home’s energy bill is consumed by heating and cooling. Read on to learn how heat pumps work and weigh system options that serve your efficiency and comfort needs.

How Heat Pumps Work

Like refrigerators and A/C systems, heat pumps are electrically-driven appliances that use refrigerant to move heat. In “cool” mode, cold refrigerant is used to absorb indoor heat and move it outside to the air or earth. In “heat” mode, refrigerant absorbs heat from outside air or earth and transfers the heat to return airflow inside your home.

Heat Pump Efficiency Stands Out

Whether you’re upgrading or deciding which HVAC system is best for your new home design, the following heat pumps improve home efficiency, which are worth exploring.

• Air-source heat pumps: Air-source systems (also called air-to-air heat pumps) exchange heat energy with indoor and outdoor airflow. By manipulating refrigerant, air-source heat pumps deliver up to 400 percent the heat energy than the electricity used for home heating and cooling. New high-efficiency air-source heat pumps deliver up to twice the efficiency of very old systems.
• Geothermal heat pumps: A geothermal heat pump utilizes the steady temperatures of ground or water as the outdoor source for exchanging heat energy. Geothermal heating and cooling is a decades-old technology proven to provide efficiency ratings well above air-source heat pumps. Moreover, geothermal heat pumps last 25 years or longer with a very nice return on investment from lower monthly energy bills.
• Dual-fuel heating: Heat pumps with gas burners as their backup heating source, rather than standard electric heating elements, are an excellent option for Cleveland area homeowners. When temperatures dip below the freezing mark, the backup furnace powers on to handle the heating load.

To learn more about how an air-source, geothermal, or dual-fuel heat pump system can improve your Greater Cleveland home’s efficiency and comfort, contact the experts at Stack Heating & Cooling.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Cleveland, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). 

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