Going Green with a Hybrid Heat Pump System

Heat Pumps

When shopping for a new heating and air conditioning system, consider the Hybrid heating and cooling system, also termed ‘Dual Fuel.’ A Hybrid system consists of a highly efficient (98%) natural gas furnace combined with a highly efficient heat pump.

Lennox XP17, XP21 and XP25 Heat Pumps are equipped to accept the optional Solar Assist Package. You can add from one up to 15 solar panels. These panels not only assist the system to reduce your heating and cooling costs, it can also send excess power back to the grid system saving you even more money on your operating costs.

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What is a Heat Pump?

As part of a central heating and cooling system, a heat pump system uses outside air to cool down and warm up a house It can cool your house like an air conditioner, but it can also provide heat.

Heat pumps don’t actually create heat in the winter, they absorb it from the air and redistribute it inside. By using a refrigerant, they can circulate and transfer heat between the indoor fan coil unit and the outdoor unit (or compressor). In the warm summer months, a heat pump releases hot air from your house back outside by reversing the flow of refrigerant.

Though powered by electricity, heat pumps are energy efficient because they do not run completely on fossil fuel – until the outside temp drops low enough and absorbing heat from the outside air is less efficient than switching to fossil fuel heat.

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How Does a Heat Pump Work?

Many people wonder, how does a heat pump work? To put it simply, a heat pump moves heat from one location to another. To heat the inside of a house, the heat pump extracts heat from the outside air with the use of refrigerant. The heat is carried inside to the indoor unit, which transfers the heat to the inside of the house with the use of a fan in the furnace. In cooling mode, this entire process is reversed. Heat is absorbed into the refrigerant and transferred out of the house.

Benefits of Heat Pump Systems

If you’re considering installing a heat pump in your house, here are a few of the main benefits to consider:

Sustainable Upgrade

Instead of generating heat as other traditional heating systems do, heat pumps simply move heat from one place to another. The result is an incredibly energy-efficient heating system that relies on renewable sources of heat.

Low Cost

Many homes with traditional HVAC systems have both furnaces and an air conditioning system. While furnaces and A/C units are effective on days with extreme temperatures, heat pumps can supplement your heat and cooling on the more mild winter or summer days. This keeps your furnace and A/C unit from running as often. With a heat pump as your first line of defense in the winter and summer, you’ll save money on lower operating costs each month.

Customizable Heating

Heat pump vs. furnace – which is better? While neither is objectively better than the other, each have their own unique benefits. For example, you could switch out a traditional furnace for a heat pump system, although many of our Utah homeowners supplement their primary heating system with a heat pump. A Manwill technician can help you decide what will work best for your home based on your current heating and cooling systems.

Others

Another benefit of installing a heat pump is the ability to provide uniform, consistent heating to a home. Traditional HVAC units usually have heating cycles consisting of hot air blowing through the ducts to maintain a thermostat. The hot air shuts off once the temperature is achieved. In addition, uneven temperature issues can be caused by a lack of maintenance or incorrect sizing. With a heat pump, you’ll enjoy more even heating and cooling.

Looking for even more benefits to installing a heat pump? On top of the benefits already mentioned, they also reduce your overall carbon emissions and have an efficient conversion rate of energy to heat. For those homeowners who want to live more sustainably without sacrificing comfort, heat pumps are a safe bet.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the heat pump shut off at 40 degrees?

Generally speaking, heat pumps do not operate efficiently when the outside temperature reaches 40 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. We calculate a balance point which is the point at which your home is losing more heat than what the heat pump can produce. At that point, to keep your home warm, the system shuts off the heat pump and resorts to the high-efficiency gas furnace. Forty degrees is an average temperature when the heat pump shuts off, but your home may be slightly higher or lower. We have installed systems with a balance point of an outdoor temperature of 27 degrees.

How does the heat pump remove heat when it’s so cold outside?

There is always heat in our atmosphere. Just think; if it’s 50 degrees outside, there must be heat in the air or it would be colder. If it’s 20 degrees, without heat, it could be 0 degrees. And if it’s 0 degrees, it could be even colder. So as you can see, there is always a source of heat. However, as we have mentioned above, when the outside temperature reaches less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit, the heat pump has to work harder to heat the inside of a house. In this case, a secondary heating system kicks in to heat the house.

Is a heat pump more efficient than a gas furnace?

A high-efficiency heat pump system with a SEER rating of 19 or higher will produce more heat per dollar than a high-efficiency gas furnace (at current utility rates). The warmer the outside temperature, the more efficient the heat pump becomes. On the flip side, the colder the outdoor temperature, the less efficient it becomes. This is one of two reasons why the system will revert back to the gas furnace. One, to produce enough heat. Second, to utilize the most efficient source of heat depending on the outdoor temperature.

Can I use the heat pump as an air conditioner?

What many people may not know is that heat pumps not only heat your house, but also cool your house as well. In fact, a heat pump and an air conditioner have many similarities. Both of them work in the same way and have many of the same parts. Both can absorb heat from inside the house and transfer it outside. The main difference between the two is that a heat pump has a switch for changing the direction of refrigerant flow. When the switch is flipped, the heat pump gathers heat from outside to bring it inside. In other words, the heat pump can both cool and heat your house.

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Trust Manwill Heating and Plumbing for Heat Pump Service in Utah

Our experts at Manwill Heating and Plumbing are available to answer all of your heating questions. Are you wondering if a heat pump will work for your house? Contact us today. We will inspect your current heating system and provide as much information as possible. Contact us today for a free heat pump estimate. Are you have other HVAC issues and need a simple furnace repair? We take care of that too. Manwill is the group of professionals to trust for all of your HVAC needs.