Heat Pumps

A heat pump is different from a furnace in that it doesn’t create heat. Heat pumps simply move warm air from one place to another, whether that is moving hot air into or out of your house. It’s ability to run in reverse means that it can both heat your home in the winter and cool it down in the winter. 

An air-source heat pump transfers heat indoors from the air outside in the winter and does the opposite in the summer. An air-source heat pump makes the most sense for homeowners living in warmer climates. Energy-wise, an air-source heat pump can deliver up to three times more heat energy to a home compared with the electrical energy it consumes. This is possible because air-source heat pumps don’t consume any fuel to heat the air like furnaces or boilers.

Also known as a geothermal heat pump, a ground-source heat pump gathers heat from the ground in the winter to transfer into your house. In colder climates, the ground holds more heat than the air, especially in the winter. Ground-source heat pumps still move heat from the indoor air to the outdoors in warmer months, but when it’s cold outside, the ground is its heat source. In the summer months your geothermal heat pump will heat your water for free. Lower utility costs can pay back a ground-source heat pump investment in as little as two years.

Absorption heat pumps, or gas-fired heat pumps, are air-source heat pumps driven not by electricity, but by a heat source such as natural gas, propane, solar-heated water, or geothermal-heated water. Most residential absorption heat pumps gather heat from the absorption of ammonia from heated water.