5 minutes reading
Equipping your home with a heat pump keeps your indoor temperature ideal all year round, while substantially lowering your electricity consumption. But with so many different models on the market, how do you know which one is right for you? Here are five useful tips to help you choice.
There are a few things you need to consider before heading to the store. Namely, just what are your heating and cooling needs? Various factors will come into play here: your home’s surface area and how well it’s insulated, your geographical location and the local climate. If you live in an area with harsh winters, you’ll need a unit that’s powerful enough to operate efficiently in very cold weather.
Air‑to‑air, air‑to‑water, geothermal: there are three kinds of heat pump, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. We’ve summarized them, below:
To maximize your investment, aim for maximum energy efficiency. Below are two helpful indicators:
Units with higher ratings are more energy efficient—and that’s exactly what you’re looking for.
Certain efficient heat pumps are more efficient during very cold weather. They’re called high-efficiency heat pumps.
High-efficiency heat pumps can:
Some heat pumps have additional features like premium air filters, programmable controls and a quiet operation mode. Consider your preferences and the options that make the most sense for your lifestyle.
Call on a specialist who can assess your needs, recommend the most suitable model and install the unit so as to guarantee its optimal performance.
Don’t forget that Hydro‑Québec’s LogisVert Efficient Homes Program offers up to $6,700 in financial assistance for certain models—a serious boost that will make your purchase even more advantageous. Not to mention the substantial and recurring savings you’ll enjoy on your electricity bill, thanks to your new heat pump!
Heat pumps are some of the most energy efficient heating systems available today. They’re also eco-friendly HVAC options because they don’t burn gas or oil, and they use far less electricity than other systems. The main downside is that they can be expensive to install, but with significant rebates and tax incentives available, combined with the cost savings they offer over the years, it’s an increasingly popular option for homes to buy a heat pump.
“Two types of heat pumps are commonly used to electrify a home: Ground Source (geothermal or GeoExchange) Heat Pumps and Air Source Heat Pumps (ASHPs), says Larry Lessard, a respected authority in the field of geothermal energy. With Lessard as a guide, this post will help you decide if a geothermal system is right for you.
It works a little like a refrigerator, which removes heat from its interior and transfers it to your kitchen. A geothermal heat pump uses the same principle, but it transfers heat from the ground to your house (or vice versa). It does this through long loops of underground pipes filled with liquid (water or an antifreeze solution). The loops are hooked up to a geothermal heat pump in your home, which acts both as a furnace and an air conditioner.
During the heating season, the liquid pulls heat from the ground and delivers it to the geothermal heating and cooling unit and then to refrigerant coils, where the heat is distributed through a forced-air or hydronic system. During the cooling season, the process runs in reverse. The pump removes heat from your house and transfers it to the earth. Many units can provide domestic hot water as well.
With competitive price and timely delivery, Zhongkeneng sincerely hope to be your supplier and partner.
The three closed-loop systems shown below are the most common. There is also a less common open-loop system that circulates surface water or water from a well through the system and returns it to the ground through a discharge pipe.
The best system, loop length and design for a particular home depend on factors such as climate, soil conditions, available land, required heating and cooling load, and local installation costs at the site.
Layered coils or straight runs of polyethylene pipe are placed in six-foot-deep trenches. This is the cheapest underground option, but it requires a lot of open space. A 2,000-sq.-ft. house requires 400 ft. of two-foot-wide trenches.
A vertical system is used when space is limited. Four-inch-diameter holes are drilled about 15 ft. apart and 100 to 400 ft. deep. Two pipes are inserted and connected at the bottom.
This system draws heat from water rather than from the soil. If there’s a body of water nearby, this is the lowest cost option. A blanket of water covers coils anchored on racks about 10 ft. deep.
The biggest downside to installing a geothermal heat pump is the cost. The system and installation can range from $10,000 to $40,000 depending on your soil conditions, plot size, system configuration, site accessibility and the amount of digging and drilling required.
For a typical 2,000-sq.-ft. home, a geothermal retrofit can cost up to $30,000. The system may require ductwork modifications along with extensive excavation. In a new home, installation costs would be on the lower end. Even so, a geothermal system will cost about 40 percent more than a traditional HVAC system.
Recouping these costs through energy savings could take as little as four years or as long as 15 years, depending on utility rates and the cost of installation. It takes some homework and professional estimates to figure out whether a geothermal system makes financial sense in your situation.
You can save some money on a geothermal heat pump system through tax credits. The Inflation Reduction Act of included a tax credit that can be worth as much as 30 percent of the cost for residential installations (and 30 percent for commercial buildings as well) for Energy Star qualified systems. Those tax rebates are available through .
There may be additional rebates available from your utility company as well as state and local governments, as well as incentives based on household income, so check with those entities if you’re considering installing a heat pump in a new home or retrofitting an existing house with one.
“Ground source heat pumps are more than twice as efficient as air source heat pumps,” says Lessard. “They can replace existing ducted heating or cooling and support radiant flooring and domestic hot water. Even further, ground source heat pumps can be built out to support electric grids, buildings, and transportation.” Benefits include:
“The cost of installing a geothermal heat pump can sometimes be 40-50% more than a quality conventional system,” says Lessard. But, he says, installation costs can vary widely based on the geological condition of the land, and they could be even higher in some circumstances. “To evaluate cost, it is a good idea to get pricing from more than one reputable installer.” Besides high upfront costs, other drawbacks include:
About 100,000 geothermal cooling and heat pumps are installed in the United States each year. According to Bob Donley, customer support manager at GeoSystems LLC in Minnesota, interest in geothermal HVAC is really on the rise.
A few factors to consider that could make your home a fit for a geothermal HVAC system:
Heat pumps efficiently heat and cool your home by transferring heat, and understanding how they work can help you choose the best one for your home.
Are you interested in learning more about commercial geothermal heat pump? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!