The Technology Behind More Heat Pump Sales

By: Brian Sodoma, for Service Experts

If you’re considering a new heating and cooling system, you’ve probably seen heat pumps. While they’ve been around for more than a century, in 2020 they overtook gas furnaces in sales. Compared to traditional heaters, which use natural gas, propane gas or oil for heating and electricity for cooling, heat pumps are entirely electric.

Heat pumps are attractive because they are very energy efficient and a greener way to stay comfortable; they don’t consume fossil fuels like natural gas. Heat pumps are regarded as a major solution for lowering carbon emissions and studies indicate that heat pumps are a better option for the environment for efficient heating. However, doubts about their effectiveness in cold weather have deterred some buyers. But that’s changing now—due to new technology.

Learn more about how heat pump technology improvements are making these HVAC systems more attractive than ever for today’s eco-conscious homeowner.

The Benefits of Heat Pumps

Capable of generating quadruple the amount of energy than it uses, a heat pump is far more efficient than conventional gas furnaces and can even be more effective than a high-efficiency make/model. And despite the fact that coal-based energy plans still provide a portion of our power, new renewable energy sources including wind and solar are growing, making all-electric heating and cooling systems even more enticing to today’s green-minded consumers.

On top of that, federal tax credits offering up to $2,000 for qualified heat pumps are another reason for the popularity of heat pumps. When added to other state and local incentives, homeowners can reduce costs even further.

“Heat pumps are certainly more energy efficient than conventional 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

In winter, heat pumps extract heat from the outside air to use it for home heating by moving it through coils. The heat is released indoors, increasing the home’s temperature. The main component here is the heat pump’s refrigerant, which transforms from liquid to gas–and then back to liquid–as it absorbs and emits heat during the heating cycle.

When it’s hot, the process switches the other way. Heat is removed from your home and pumped outside through the same coolant coils.

Here’s how the process works:

• 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 low outdoor temperatures, there is still heat accessible in the outside air. As the heat moves to the refrigerant, it boosts its temperature to its boiling point and transforms it from liquid to gas.

• Then, a compressor pumps the gas refrigerant around the system, increasing the pressure of the gas so the heat is expelled into the home by a fan or blower. As the heat is released, the refrigerant turns back into a liquid. The process repeats until the home’s thermostat is reached.

• A reversing valve is used to flip the system from heating to cooling. The reversing valve is controlled by the thermostat and will change the cycle during the summer, transferring heat from indoors to outdoors.

Advances in Heat Pump Technology to the Rescue

As the outdoor temperature decreases, heat pumps become less efficient and have lower heating capacity. But manufacturing has implemented significant technological advancements to improve the capacity AND efficiency of heat pumps through severe cold.

For one thing, all manufacturers are designing systems to reach higher SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) rating standards. The highest SEER rating means lower operating costs for the system. While SEER primarily applies to cooling, the heat pump’s energy and cost savings throughout the summer increase significantly as minimum SEER standards rise.

When it comes to a heat pump’s total capacity, top brands have developed systems capable of maintaining maximum efficiency and heating capacity even in temperatures as low as -15 degrees. This marks a sharp 20- to 30-degree improvement compared against standards just five years ago.

“How are they achieving this? Manufacturers have enhanced variable-speed compressors to more quickly change power levels while using less energy. Additionally, the heat exchangers found in modern units are significantly bigger, which enables more effective heat transfer. During the longest, coldest winters, the systems will employ secondary heaters that will start below certain temperatures.

These advancements have been partially driven 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 climate while cutting costs on monthly bills, and there are major programs from the federal and state governments. We are even seeing some customers, who purchase a heat pump, will also upgrade their insulation to increase their energy efficiency and cost savings.”

For details about our available heat pumps, visit serviceexperts.com/heat-pumps. To request an appointment with a member of our staff, visit our scheduling page.