When I first moved south, I’d never heard of a heat pump.
Since I was moving to an area with extremely hot and humid weather for the majority of the year, a heat pump didn’t sound like the right solution. I imagined something that looked like a sump pump and expected the system to be a great deal of work. I’ve now learned that a heat pump is an amazing innovation that effortlessly handles year round temperature control. This type of system is quite expensive to purchase and install but provides a lot of benefits. Both heating and cooling capacity are combined into a single unit, minimizing the space it takes up and maintenance it requires. We have an air-source heat pump, which means that it pulls heat out of the air. Even when the outside temperature is rather cold, there is still ambient heat available. The heat pump finds this heat, compresses it to a high temperature and delivers it inside. The process requires no burning of fossil fuels, which eliminates safety concerns and negative impact on the environment. There’s no worry over greenhouse gas emissions, fumes, hot surfaces or carbon monoxide. Since the system is simply moving heat from one place to another, it is wonderfully energy efficient. It’s also clean, quiet and doesn’t dry out the indoor air. When the weather warms up, the heat pump literally reverses the whole operation to act just like a central air conditioner. The unit is very good at combating humidity and provides effective air filtration. I couldn’t be happier with the comfort of my home and low cost of year round heating and cooling.