The Tech Behind the Heat Pump Boom

By: Brian Sodoma, for Service Experts

When considering a new climate control system, you’ve most likely seen heat pumps. While they’ve been around for more than a hundred years, in 2020 they overtook gas furnaces in sales. Compared to furnaces, which depend on natural gas, propane gas or oil for heating and electricity for cooling, heat pumps only use electricity.

Heat pumps are appealing since they are extremely energy efficient and environmentally friendly; they don’t consume fossil fuels like natural gas. Heat pumps are considered a key solution for reducing carbon emissions and studies show that heat pumps are a greener option for your home heating system. However, concerns about their performance in cold weather have held back some consumers. But that’s changing now—due to new technology.

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

Why Heat Pumps

Producing roughly four times the amount of energy than it consumes, a heat pump is much more efficient than conventional gas furnaces and can even be more efficient than a high-efficiency make/model. And even though coal-based energy plans still function today, new renewable energy sources including wind and solar are growing, making all-electric heating and cooling systems even more attractive to today’s environmentally aware consumers.

Additionally, federal tax credits that provide up to $2,000 for qualified heat pumps are another factor driving the popularity of heat pumps. When paired with other state and local rebate or incentive programs, homeowners can save even more.

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

The Inner Workings of Your Heat Pump

During the colder months, heat pumps use heat from the outside air to increase indoor temperature by moving it through coils. The heat is sent to one or more indoor units, maintaining the home’s temperature. The key player here is your coolant supply, which changes from liquid to gas–and then back to liquid–as it absorbs and emits heat along the way.

In summer, the process reverses. Heat is taken out of the home and sent outside through the same coolant coils.

The process works as follows:

  • When it’s cold, a coil heat exchanger combined with a metering device transfers heat from the outside air to the liquid refrigerant inside the coil. Even at lower outside temperatures, there is still heat present in the outside air. As the heat transfers to the refrigerant, it boosts its temperature to its boiling point and turns it from liquid to gas.
  • Then, a compressor pumps the gas refrigerant around the system, boosting the gas pressure so the heat is released into the home by a fan or blower. As the heat is discharged, the refrigerant turns back into a liquid. The process continues until the home’s thermostat is set.
  • A reversing valve is used to switch the system from heating to cooling. The reversing valve is managed by the thermostat and will change the cycle during the summer, moving heat from inside the home to the outside.

New Technology Push Efficiency Even Further

As the outdoor temperature decreases, heat pumps become less efficient in heating and have lower heating capacity. But top brands have adopted important technological improvements to enhance every aspect of the performance of heat pumps through severe cold.

For starters, all manufacturers are updating their designs to meet higher SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) rating standards. A higher SEER rating means smaller electricity bills for the system. While SEER primarily relates to cooling, the heat pump’s energy and cost savings during the summer increase significantly as minimum SEER standards rise.

When it comes to heating capacity, top brands have engineered heat pumps 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 are using upgraded variable-speed compressors to reduce the time it needs to adjust power while using less of it overall. Additionally, the heat exchangers inside modern units are considerably larger, which said. And for the longest, coldest winters, the systems will use auxiliary heaters that kick in below a specific temperature.

These innovations have been partially driven by the Department of Energy’s Residential Climate Heat Pump Technology Challenge, an initiative that’s designed to speed up heat pump innovation.

“The heat pump boom is actually a perfect storm,” Reed said. “People want to help the environment while cutting costs on monthly bills, and there are significant economic and government forces incentivizing it. We are even seeing some customers, who purchase a heat pump, will also upgrade their insulation to increase their energy efficiency and cost savings.”

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

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