It’s not your grandparent’s heat pump anymore
Heat pump technology got off to a rocky start. They weren’t that efficient because in
the old days no air conditioning technology was that efficient. Heat pumps
struggled to heat when temps fell below 20F. Indeed, conventional wisdom used
to suggest “heat pumps are only good for mild climates.” Well. That’s not the case anymore. Heat pump technology has matured. Now even cold Scandinavian countries like Norway are leading the world in using heat pumps.
Why should you get a heat pump?
Modern heat pumps come equipped with specialized technologies
like variable speed fan motors and compressors. When equipped with an electric
inverter the modern heat pump can scale it’s power consumption and
heating/cooling capacities to the specific needs of your home. Think about
early April where the days are 67F, but the nights still get into the chilly
40’s, the inverter driven heat pump will operate at a fraction of its max
capacity and return extremely high co-efficiency of performance (COP).
What is Co-efficiency of performance?
Unlike fireplaces and furnaces that convert a fuel into heat,
heat pumps do not create heat. Heat pumps acquire and transfer heat using
electric motors. An electric heater has a co-efficiency of 1. For every $1 of
electricity consumed, you get $1 of heat out. Gas furnace efficiency is between
0.92-0.97 percent efficient; for every $1 of gas consumed you get 92-97 cents
of heat out.
Heat pumps often have a
co-efficiency of 2.3-3.5 or greater. It’s far more efficient to find and transfer heat. Which
is why heat pumps earn a greater efficiency rating than either electric heaters
or gas burning furnaces. The laws of thermodynamics involved is tricky to explain,
but it does work.
Economics vs Efficiency.
A lot of readers mistakenly assume that high efficiency also
equals more economical. This is not always the case. Heat pumps, like every
appliance, have limitations that prevent them from being a universal good
choice. The first consideration is cost of electricity versus the cost of
natural gas or Liquid Propane Gas (LPG) in your area. If your suppliers of gas
are exceedingly economical, and electricity rates are high, a heat pump may not
be the wisest choice from a financial perspective.
Also,
consumer grade heat pumps max out at a 5-ton system, which is nominally rated
at 60,000 Btu’s, In actually it’s 52,000. Small furnaces usually output 72,000
Btu’s, and 80k-180k Btu furnaces are easy to obtain. Due to the poor building
practices in most homes, 90% of homes in the United
States are under insulated. Insulating a home is expensive, and it’s far cheaper for a
builder to slap a high Btu furnace in there and let the homeowner “discover”
the high energy bills associated with ownership.
If you own such a home, you will find out very quickly that a
heat pump simply cannot be efficient, economical or a comfortable choice for
your home – until the insulation is brought up to modern standards.
Prices – like technology – always change.
Home owners in the United States are in a uncertain
position. Energy prices are climbing. Gas prices are going up, and high
efficiency heat pumps to combat those prices are still more expensive than
standard fossil fueled options. But the economics is changing rapidly. The US Energy
Information Administration reports that energy from petroleum and coal is
declining, and energy production from solar, hydro, and wind power sources are
expanding. Where will they be in 12 years? Will LPG and natural gas become more
expensive than electricity? These are questions many homeowners face when purchasing
of an appliance that’s expected to last 15-25 years.
The health benefits of electric heat pumps.
A little known side-effect of gas appliances is the detrimental
health effects to your indoor air. Now, many people assume that a gas
furnace doesn’t contribute harmful substances to your air, because it vents
outside. However, what they don’t know is all heat exchanges develop leaks.
It’s not a matter of if, but when. This adversely affects your indoor air
quality. Yet, in the U.S. HVAC technicians aren’t required to test, notify, or
decommission a furnace until it deteriorates to the point of endangering your
life. There is no regard to development of asthma, or another medical
condition.
Heat pumps pose no such risks – and this is a major argument
for adopting the technology. While the energy markets sort themselves out, you can be assured heat pumps are also a safer option from a
health perspective.