It may almost be the official start of spring, but temperatures are still cool for now, and probably will be throughout the start of May. Hopefully, your heating system served you well and you’ve had minimal problems with it—this will typically be the case if you had your system professionally tuned-up before the start of the season.
But what if you have an aging heater? One that is just about ready for replacement? Well, if you’re also going to need a new air conditioner soon, we’d like to suggest the installation of a heat pump system, which is a two-in-one heating and cooling system that will give you year-round comfort. Is it right for your home, though?
First, What Exactly Is a Heat Pump?
You can think of a heat pump essentially as your standard central air conditioning system, with a couple of exceptions. Similar to an air conditioner, a heat pump is comprised of two units—one is installed inside and one outside. In heating mode, the outside unit evaporates refrigerant in order to absorb thermal energy from the air surrounding your property. The refrigerant gas is then condensed back into liquid in the indoor unit to release the collected heat into the home.
Unlike an air conditioner, though, a heat pump has the ability to change the direction of the refrigerant flow. This gives the heat pump its ability to act as either a heater or an air conditioner, which is the main reason most people have one installed.
What Are the Benefits?
The main benefit of being able to depend on a single HVAC system for home comfort throughout the entire year is that it saves you both space and money. This isn’t the only reason that homeowners have heat pumps installed, however! They tend to also be more energy efficient than the majority of heating systems—this is because they don’t combust fuel to generate heat. Rather, they move heat.
This means you aren’t spending extra money every month on something like a higher gas bill. It’s estimated that just within a few years of heat pump installation, your system will usually pay for itself by how much it saves you on utility bills.
There is also a big convenience factor here—when you’re using a more traditional two-system configuration, you need to spend twice as much money keeping both of those systems in good condition. You can’t just install a system and forget about it. If you’re using a heat pump, you only need to worry about keeping that one system in good condition.
Of course, this does mean that you should be scheduling maintenance twice a year, whereas for a traditional central AC or furnace, you’d be getting maintenance done once a year for each system. But overall, since you’re dealing with less components, you shouldn’t have to deal with as many costly repair needs that you might have to with a more traditional system.
For professional Oakland, CA HVAC services and more, contact Comfy Heating & Air Conditioning Inc. today!