Heating and Cooling Unit or Home Mechanical Hero?
As an Alabama resident, you have more options for heating and cooling needs than traditional air conditioners and furnaces. Heat pumps offer efficient heating and cooling year-round. Let’s determine if heat pumps are a viable option for your home.
How Heat Pumps Work
A heat pump provides both heating and cooling year-round using a mechanical-compression to cycle refrigeration. The refrigerant can be reversed to supply hot or cold air to your home. Heat pumps are comprised of the outdoor unit, similar to an air conditioner and an indoor air handler. A compressor circulates the refrigerant as it travels between the indoor and outdoor units.
A heat pump works by continually moving warm air from one location to another, depending on the season. Heat energy is present in all air, including cold air. During the winter, a heat pump extracts heat from outside and transfers it inside your home. It does the opposite during the warmer months by pulling heat out of your home and releasing it outside.
Types of Heat Pumps
Heat pumps come in a variety of options, depending on your needs and the fuel source. All options collect heat from one location to another. The most common heat pump is an air-source heat pump. It transfers heat from the air outside or inside your home. Air-source heat pumps deliver close to three times more heat energy to a home than the energy it consumes.
The second type of heat pump is a geothermal heat pump. These are sometimes referred to as GeoExchange, ground-source, water-source or earth-coupled. Geothermal heat pumps use the temperature of the earth to heat or cool a home.
They pull the heat from the ground or water to warm your house or cool it. Geothermal units last longer and perform more quietly. They require less maintenance and are unaffected by the outside temperature.
Absorption heat pumps are the third option. Their power source uses natural gas, solar-heated water, geothermal-heated water or propane. Natural gas is the most common source for absorption heat pumps.
Referred to as gas-fired heat pumps, they use an ammonia-water absorption cycle to heat or cool a home. First, the ammonia condenses in one coil to release heat and reduce the pressure.
Second, the ammonia evaporates to absorb the heat. Third, the ammonia releases into the water. Lastly, the heat source boils the water and removes the ammonia.
Why Heat Pumps Are a Great Option For You
Heat pumps move heat instead of generating it, which offers more energy efficiency when heating or cooling your home. Typical air-forced heat pump units use electricity, so fuel consumption isn’t an issue when heating your home in the winter.
As you can see, heat pumps are best for homeowners who live in a moderate winter climate, such as Alabama!
Need more help to decide? Call and ask questions of our professional staff. A member of our sales team can visit your home, take the appropriate measurements and perform the necessary calculations. He or she will prepare recommendations for you and can connect you with financing if necessary.
Ready to purchase or upgrade? Our NATE-certified technicians will expertly install your heat pump and show you basic care. Contact Douglas Cooling & Heating today and bring this home heating and cooling hero to your squad. We are your HVAC repair, service and installation experts.
