The Innovation Behind More Heat Pump Sales

By: Brian Sodoma, for Service Experts

If you are thinking about a new heating and cooling system, you’ve most likely seen heat pumps. While they’ve been around for more than a century, in 2020 they finally passed gas furnaces in sales. Distinct from furnaces, which use natural gas, propane gas or oil combustion for heating and electricity for cooling, heat pumps are entirely electric.

Heat pumps are appealing because they are extremely energy efficient and eco-friendly; they don’t consume fossil fuels like natural gas. Heat pumps are seen as a big solution for reducing carbon emissions and studies indicate that heat pumps are a more environmentally friendly option for your home heating system. However, doubts about their effectiveness in cold weather have discouraged some people. But that’s changing now—due to new technology.

Learn more about how heat pump technology advancements are making these systems more appealing than ever for a comfortable, energy-efficient home.

The Benefits of Heat Pumps

Producing roughly four times the amount of energy than it consumes, a heat pump is more efficient than conventional gas furnaces and can even be more effective than a high-efficiency model. And while coal-based power plants still function today, new renewable energy sources including wind and solar are increasing, making all-electric heating and cooling systems even more enticing to today’s eco-conscious consumers.

In addition, federal tax credits that provide up to $2,000 for qualified heat pumps are another reason for the increasing demand of heat pumps. When combined with other state and local rebate or incentive programs, homeowners can reduce costs even further.

“Heat pumps are becoming more energy efficient than typical gas heaters, and they can help you significantly lower your power bill—and in some cases, by $500 or more annually,” said Cary Reed, a Service Experts HVAC specialist.

How It Works

During the colder months, heat pumps use heat from the outside air to use it for home heating by transporting it through coils. The heat is sent to one or more indoor units, raising the home’s temperature. The main component here is your coolant supply, which transforms from liquid to gas–and then back to liquid–as it collects and expels heat along the way.

In warmer weather, the process reverses. Heat is removed from your home and sent outside through the same coolant coils.

The process works as follows:

• In colder weather, a coil heat exchanger paired with a metering device transfers heat from the outside air to the liquid refrigerant inside the coil. Even at cold outdoor temperatures, there is still heat accessible in the outside air. As the heat is absorbed by the refrigerant, it boosts its temperature to its boiling point and turns it from liquid to gas.

• Next, a compressor pushes the gas refrigerant around the system, raising the pressure of the gas where the heat is released into the home by a fan or blower. As the heat is released, the refrigerant changes back to liquid. The process repeats until the home’s thermostat is satisfied.

• A reversing valve is used to reverse the system from heating to cooling. The reversing valve is regulated by the thermostat and will reverse the cycle during the summer, moving heat from inside the home to the outside.

New Technology Push Efficiency Even Further

When the outdoor temperature drops, heat pumps become less efficient in heating and have lower heating capacity. But top brands have implemented significant technological advancements to improve both the efficiency and capacity of heat pumps during cold weather.

For one thing, the top heat pump manufacturers are designing systems to reach higher SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) rating standards. Installing a heat pump with a high SEER rating means lower energy use for the system. While SEER largely applies to cooling, the heat pump’s energy and cost savings across the summer increase significantly as minimum SEER standards do the same.

And in regards to heating capacity, many brands have developed systems that maintain optimal efficiency and heating capacity even in temperatures as low as -15 degrees. This is a dramatic 20- to 30-degree improvement compared to what was typical just five years ago.

“How are they achieving this? Manufacturers have improved variable-speed compressors to adjust power more rapidly while using less energy. Additionally, the heat exchangers designed for modern units are considerably larger, which allows them to transfer heat around more effectively. And for extreme cold weather, the systems can use auxiliary heaters that will start below a specific temperature.

This new technology has been partly spurred by the Department of Energy’s Residential Climate Heat Pump Technology Challenge, a federal program focused on advancing heat pump innovation.

“The heat pump boom is actually an ideal situation,” Reed said. “People want to do the right thing for the environment while reducing energy costs, and there are major programs from the federal and state governments. We are even seeing some customers, who purchase a heat pump, will also upgrade their insulation to maximize their energy efficiency and savings.”

To learn even more about high-efficiency heat pumps, stop by serviceexperts.com/heat-pumps. To request an appointment with a member of our staff, visit our scheduling page.