In a moderate climate like ours, heat pump advantages outweigh those of a central air conditioner because a heat pump also acts as safe and reliable heating system. Air conditioners only cool, and if you need to upgrade both your cooling and heating equipment, a heat pump can do both with one appliance.

Heat pumps differ from air conditioners in that they have a reversing switch that changes the refrigerant flow from summer cooling to winter heating. A/C systems and heat pumps extract the heat from your home’s air and send it outdoors. A heat pump switches the refrigerant flow and extracts the heat in the outdoor air, using it to warm your home during the winter.

Efficiency Ratings

Both air conditioners and heat pumps carry the same energy efficiency ratings called the seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) rating. The minimum starts at 14 for both. Since a heat pump also heats, it carries an additional rating called the heating season performance factor (HSPF) rating, whose minimum stands at 8.2. Higher SEER and HSPF indicate better energy efficiency and lower monthly conditioning bills.

Heat Pump Benefits

• If you’re currently using an electric furnace or electric radiant heat, the heat pump advantages are especially pronounced during the heating season. A typical heat pump will use three times less electricity to create the same amount of heat that electric-only systems use. High efficiency heat pumps cut energy usage by even more during the winter.
• Heat pumps are also safer than gas furnaces since there’s no risk of carbon monoxide exposure, and you don’t need to open a gas valve when you need to switch from cooling to heating.
• You can also select a heat pump that uses a device called a desuperheater to heat your home’s water during the summer with the waste heat it produces, which reduces the second highest energy expense in the typical home.

To learn more about heat pump advantages, contact Powers Heating & Air. We’ve provided top-notch HVAC services for Peachtree City homeowners since 2001.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Peachtree City, Georgia and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).

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