Principles Of Heat Pump Systems And Cost Structures - Facts You Probably Didn't Know

When you are looking for information to make your decision about purchasing a heat pump to replace your air conditioner, then in this quick article we will go over a few salient points about the principles of operation of heat pump systems, and the reasons for the pump energy efficiency.

After reading through, you should have a good working knowledge on heat pump (HP) systems and mini split heat pump systems.

Let's dive right into the important points about HPs:

1. The main principle behind efficient operation of HPs for heating a home in the winter is the principle of using a small amount of energy to transfer heat from the outside of the home to the inside of the home. It just so turns out that by using a given amount of natural gas, for instance, you can transfer much more heat into the home compared with the amount of heat that burning that same amount of gas would produce.

2. There are at least three types of HPs, air-air HP, geothermal HP, and hydrothermal HP. The naming reflects the place where the HP extracts the heat from, either from the air, from the earth, or from the body of water nearby.

3. Geothermal HPs work best in the winter as the ground temperatures at the certain depth never go below a certain point.

4. The action of the air-air HP in the coldest days of winter depends on the refrigerant liquid used.

5. The efficiency of a HP, depending on the refrigerant liquid, will diminish, and in many places a supplemental furnace will be needed to cover the coldest days. Ask your neighbors about their HPs.

6. Pricing of HPs. Heat pumps are not the cheapest air conditioners. But when you compare a HP price with an air conditioner+furnace purchase, you must compare the ongoing electricity savings in the winter with the one time initial payment.

7. Mini split system HP differs from the split system HP in that it does not use an air duct, but instead cools the rooms through wall mount air conditioner evaporator units.

So now that you know these important details about split system HPs and their principles of operation, as well as of the energy savings they offer, especially in the winter time, you should be better able to make the right purchasing decision. When you are in the market place for air conditioning and heating appliances, simply consider a heat pump system.