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Heat Pumps Are More Efficient for Heating and Cooling Your Home - Boston, Worcester

09 Aug 2013

In Worcester and Boston home owners are considering how to better heat and cool their homes in order to save on energy costs. Homeowners have been seeing and hearing a lot about “heat pumps” but many don’t know what they are. Heat pumps give you an energy-efficient alternative to furnaces and air conditioners. In many cases a heat pump is preferred to separate heating and cooling systems.

Heat pumps use less energy to move heat from a cool space to a warm space, making the cool space cooler and the warm space warmer. During the winter, heat pumps draw heat from the cooler external air and bring it inside while moving the cooler inside air, out; in the summer, heat pumps move heat from inside your home to the outdoors.  They move heat they don’t generate heat, so they can give up to 4 times the amount of energy they consume. They transfer heat, they don’t burn fuel to create heat, and this makes them very efficient.

If you heat your home with electricity, a heat pump can cut down on the amount of electricity you use for heating by up to 30% to 40%. High-efficiency heat pumps dehumidify your home better than most central AC units. This saves you money in the summer.

There are also gas-fired heat pumps, called absorption heat pumps. These use heat as their energy source, so they can be fueled by natural gas, propane, solar-heated water, or geothermal-heated water.

For homes without ducts, air-source heat pumps are also available in a ductless version called a mini-split heat pump. For homes that have "non-ducted" heating systems this is a good energy efficient add on.

One of the biggest advantages of a heat pump over a standard HVAC system is that you don’t need to install separate systems to for heating and cooling.

For more information on heat pumps, contact Greater Boston Plumbing and Heating.