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Heat Pump Operating Costs: Can a Heat Pump Save You Money?
from:The cost of heating and cooling a home can be extreme. In many cases, the cost is downright prohibitive and many families end up having to go cold in the winter because the bills are just too expensive. Whether your heating is electric based or you have a gas furnace system, energy costs in general have gone through the roof in recent years and paying these bills has never been more difficulty.
Some people believe that the solution to soaring energy costs is a heat pump system. Heat pumps generally cost less to operate than central heating and cooling systems, so many people believe they are the way to go. But is it true? Can a heat pump really help you keep more money in your pocket every month when it comes to your energy bill?
First, let’s consider how heat pumps work and why they are less expensive. In the beginning, a heat pump cost less to install then a central heating and cooling service. Heat pumps heat and cool with a single unit, while central heating and central cooling are each a separate unit. Clearly, purchasing and installing one unit rather than two saves money. During the operating life of the system, heat pumps also cost less because there is less equipment to maintain.
The real savings come into play when you consider how a heat pump works. When you have a central heating system, that system takes air, then uses gas or electricity to warm that air, then expels it into your home. The same holds true for a central air system. The air is cooled through some method that requires the expenditure of energy, and then it is pumped into your home, cooling the temperate by adding cool air to the air already in your home.
Heat pumps, on the other hand, work with the heat that is naturally present in the air. Although you may not be able to feel it, there is hot air constantly present in the environment, even on the coldest of days. Heat pumps take that warm air from the outside and pump it into your home. There is no artificial heating process, so there is less energy expenditure. In the summer, the heat pump takes the hot air that is inside your home and funnels it outside, cooling the air inside by removing the heat from it rather than cooling the air artificially.
In these ways, a heat pump can reduce your energy expenditure – on average, a few hundred dollars per year. However, this only holds true if you live in a moderate temperature zone. Otherwise, a heat pump will not provide adequate heating and cooling.
Heat pumps can save money for people in the right climate. Otherwise, switching to a heat pump is a false economy.
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