Heat Pump Features To Look For When Selecting A New System

When you’re selecting a new HVAC system for your home, consider these heat pump features that can help you save energy dollars and increase home comfort and enjoyment. Recent improvements to the components for heat pumps have increased their efficiency ratings and options now exist for sound levels, both inside and out.

The SEER (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) and HSPF (heating seasonal performance factor) let you know the efficiency of these systems. Minimums stand at 13 SEER and 7.7 HSPF, respectively. These features may raise a heat pump’s efficiency ratings:

• Variable-speed motors. Also known as electronically commutated motors (ECMs), these motors run much more quietly than a single-speed motor and use a fraction of the electricity. They start and stop slowly, which helps evacuate all the conditioned air from the ducts. The slow start-up also helps you avoid that cold blast of air in the winter.
• Dual-speed compressors. This feature senses the weather and only runs at its highest speed when conditions are exceptionally hot. In our climate, this feature lowers energy bills, since our summers are seldom extremely hot.
• Desuperheaters. This feature can help you save almost 20 percent of your energy bills. It takes the waste heat from your home in the summer to heat water.
• Two-stage thermostat. This type of thermostat helps in the winter by temporarily blocking the auxiliary electric coil from running when temperatures fall into the low 30s. It has a set point, and if the heat pump still hasn’t warmed your home to the thermostat’s setting after a certain period of time, it sends a message to the heat pump to turn the auxiliary coil on. These save money because a heat pump creates up to three watts of heat from one watt of electricity. When the coil turns on, the pump uses one watt of power to create one watt of heat.

If you’d like to learn more about heat pump features, contact Air-Tro, Inc. We’ve provided HVAC services in the Pasadena area since 1969.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the greater Los Angeles, California area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about heat pump features and other HVAC topics, visit our website.

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