The Tech Fueling More Heat Pump Sales

By: Brian Sodoma, for Service Experts

If you’re considering 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 overtook gas heaters in sales. Compared to traditional heaters, which depend on natural gas, propane gas or oil for heating and electricity for cooling, heat pumps are fully electric.

Heat pumps are appealing because they are very energy efficient and environmentally friendly; they don’t consume fossil fuels like natural gas. Heat pumps are regarded as a big solution for reducing carbon emissions and studies show that heat pumps are a greener option for efficient heating. At the same time, worries about their efficiency in cold weather have deterred some buyers. But that’s changing now—due to new technology.

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

Reasons to Choose Heat Pumps

Generating about four times the amount of energy than it uses, a heat pump is far more efficient than conventional gas furnaces and can even be more efficient than a high-efficiency model. And even though coal-based energy plans still operate today, new renewable energy sources such as wind and solar are increasing, making all-electric heating and cooling systems even more appealing to today’s green-minded consumers.

In addition, federal tax credits of up to $2,000 for qualified heat pumps are another factor driving the rise of heat pumps. When added to other state and local rebate or incentive programs, homeowners can save even more.

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

How It Works

In winter, heat pumps extract heat from the outside air to increase indoor temperature by pumping it through refrigerant coils. The heat is expelled into the home, maintaining the home’s temperature. The key player here is your coolant supply, which shifts from liquid to gas–and then back to liquid–as it absorbs and emits heat for each cycle.

In warmer weather, the process switches the other way. Heat is extracted from indoors and sent outside through the same coolant coils.

The process works as follows:

• In colder weather, a coil heat exchanger combined with a metering device moves heat from the outside air to the liquid refrigerant inside the coil. Even at low outdoor temperatures, there is still heat present in the outside air. As the heat is absorbed by the refrigerant, it boosts its temperature to its boiling point and changes it from a liquid to a 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 turns back into a liquid. The process goes on until the home’s thermostat is satisfied.

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

New Technology Further Improve Heating Efficiency

As the outdoor temperature falls, heat pumps become less effective and have trouble maintaining the same heating capacity. But manufacturing has introduced new advancements in the technology to enhance every aspect of the performance of heat pumps during cold weather.

For one thing, these brands are updating their designs to meet higher SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) rating standards. The highest SEER rating means lower energy use for the system. While SEER primarily pertains to cooling, the heat pump’s energy and cost savings throughout the summer rise considerably as minimum SEER standards are changed.

And in regards to a heat pump’s total capacity, many brands have created systems that can sustain peak efficiency and heating capacity even in temperatures as low as -15 degrees. This means there is a sharp 20- to 30-degree improvement compared to what was typical just five years ago.

“How are they making this happen? Manufacturers are using improved variable-speed compressors to adjust power more rapidly while using less of it overall. In addition, the heat exchangers used in modern units are considerably larger, which enables more effective heat transfer. In case of severe cold, the systems also utilize backup heaters that will start below certain temperatures.

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

“The heat pump boom is actually an ideal situation,” Reed said. “People want to do their part for the environment while cutting costs on monthly bills, and there are strong incentives. 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 more about heat pumps, stop by serviceexperts.com/heat-pumps. To request an appointment with a heating and cooling pro, visit our scheduling page.