Before moving down south, I’d never heard of an electric heat pump.
I’d always heated and cooled my home with two separate units that shared a duct system.
The furnace burned fossil fuels to create heat, and there was always the worry over byproducts such as carbon dioxide. The heat pump works by moving existing heat from one place to another. It doesn’t burn anything or create any fumes or greenhouse gases. The system is wonderfully safe, clean and environmentally friendly. Even when the outside weather is cold, there is still ambient heat available. The heat pump pulls the heat out of the air, compresses it to a higher temperature and sends it into the home. During the summer months, this same process is literally completed in reverse. The heat pump draws heat out of the indoor air and transfers it outside by way of refrigerant. Although heat pumps are rather expensive to purchase and install, they make up for it in energy savings. Plus, combining heating and cooling into one system reduces maintenance requirements. Heat pumps are also very effective at air filtration and handling dehumidification in the summer. Because the system won’t overly dry out the air in the winter, there’s no need to add a humidifier. The heat pump I have in my home is a relatively new model and features adaptable speed technology. The equipment automatically adjusts speed to provide the exact amount of heating or cooling necessary. Most often, it’s able to run at lower speeds, maintaining very even temperature and optimizing efficiency levels.