What is a heat pump?

A heat pump is a system that functions as a heater and an air conditioner. When you need heat it absorbs heat from the outside air and transfers it inside. When you need cooling it absorbs heat from inside your home and transfers it outside. The heat pump itself sits outside and pumps refrigerant through copper tubes to a coil attached to your furnace (or “air handler” as it is often called when connected to a heat pump). The furnace or air handler then blows air over the refrigerant lines in your coil and through your ductwork. If you do not have ductwork in your home, modern technology exists for ductless heat pumps (details below).

Why would I want a heat pump?

The primary reason people use heat pumps is efficiency. Heat pumps can often accomplish the same heating task using half the electricity an electric furnace or baseboard heaters would use. This can mean drastically reduced heating bills. Another benefit is heat pumps can also be used as air conditioners in the summer, which makes a big difference in comfort during those hot days.

Ductless Heat Pumps

If you don’t have ductwork in your home a ductless heat pump system is right for you. Baseboard electric heat or electric wall heaters require a tremendous amount of electricity, and a heat pump will drastically reduce your heating bills, as well as provide air conditioning when you want it.

Efficiency Ratings

Heat pumps are assigned two efficiency ratings, a SEER rating based on a unit’s cooling efficiency and an HSPF rating based on a unit’s heating efficiency.

SEER Rating
The SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) rating is used to identify the cooling effi- ciency of both traditional air conditioners and heat pumps. The SEER rating indicates how efficiently the unit utilizes electricity: the higher the rating, the less electricity the unit re- quires to cool a given area.

HSPF Rating
The HSPF (Heating Seasonal Performance Factor) rating is used to identify the heating efficiency of heat pumps: the higher the rating, the less electricity the heat pump uses to heat a given area.

Rebates and Incentives

Utility companies want you to install a heat pump to reduce your electricity usage. This may seem odd since you pay them for the electricity, but there is so much current and projected demand on our state electricity supplies that it will benefit everyone (including utility providers) for consumers to reduce their consumption of electricity. There are often significant utility rebates or financing available to help you make the switch to a heat pump. Please visit our Rebates and Incentives (link) page for details.

Click on logos above to view gas furnace product lines.