If you're looking for an HVAC system that can easily tackle your heating and cooling needs, a heat pump is the way to go. Heat pumps stand apart from other conventional HVAC systems thanks to their dual functionality. A heat pump not only keeps your home cool during the summer, but it can quickly switch gears and provide indoor heat when you need it most.
In addition to good SEER and HSPF ratings, you'll also want to find a heat pump that offers the latest features. Here are a few to keep an eye out for as you shop around for your next heat pump system.
Variable-Speed Motor
A typical heat pump's air handler runs at a single preset speed — great for simplicity's sake, but not so great if you want to moderate your home's heat and humidity efficiently. Variable-speed air handlers bring efficiency to the table by replacing the traditional permanent split capacitor (PSC) motor with a smarter and more efficient electronically commutated motor (ECM).
ECMs allow the air handler fan to operate at slower speeds, resulting in quieter operation and improved humidity removal. ECMs also consume less energy than comparable PSC motors.
Scroll Compressor
Another feature to look out for while shopping for a new heat pump is the scroll compressor. Instead of the typical piston-driven design, a scroll compressor uses a stationary, spiral-shaped scroll and a moving scroll to compress and circulate refrigerant.
Unlike their piston-driven counterparts, scroll compressors last longer while offering substantially quieter operation. Another wintertime benefit of a scroll compressor is its ability to provide warmer heat. In most cases, heat pumps equipped with a scroll compressor offer air that's up to 15 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than units equipped with a piston-driven compressor.
Desuperheater
Thanks to their ability to move heat indoors, heat pumps offer excellent efficiency under wintertime operation. During the summer months, however, all of the heat energy usually goes to waste as it's moved outdoors. That's where a built-in desuperheater comes into play.
Instead of letting that valuable heat energy escape back into the atmosphere, a desuperheater will channel that waste heat into heating your home's hot water supply. Because the desuperheater is essentially recycling heat energy that would otherwise go to waste, these devices offer better energy efficiency than a conventional electric water heater.
Desuperheaters can come in handy if you have higher-than-normal hot water demands or if you simply want to save energy during the summer months.
For more information, contact a company like Barnetts Heating & Air Conditioning.
Share12 July 2019
Every summer, I agonized over energy bills that would shoot into the stratosphere as a result of my efforts to keep cool in the heat. Every time I turned the temperature down, my bills increased. This summer, I decided to take some of the control over my energy bill back. I installed reflective film on my windows that reduced the amount of light and heat coming into the house. I started serving more cold meals or asking my husband to barbecue outside, so that my air conditioner didn't have to compete with the hot stove, and I started doing laundry at night to reduce appliance heat in the house at peak times. I also had ceiling fans installed. So far, the difference in my bill has been tremendous. This blog is a way for me to explore other ways to reduce energy drain during the summer months.