Heat pumps are efficient because they are really ingenious appliances that are expected to rank among the most-installed products in US houses during the coming few years. That is because, depending on the weather, they may be used to both cool and heat your home.
You may utilize a heat pump to keep your house at a suitable temperature throughout the entire year rather than an independent air conditioning system, furnace, and electric heater. The use of a heat pump may assist you save money without sacrificing efficiency.
Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? Let us examine their operation, electricity consumption, and potential savings if you switch to a thermal pump.
How Do Heat Pumps Get Their Power?
Electrical energy powers heat pumps. An exterior condenser and an inside unit that circulates the heated or cooled air throughout the house are the two major components of a heat pump. Heat energy is transferred between them by the cooling fluid.
In essence, a heat pump is an appliance that does not produce hot or cold air. Instead, it transfers heat. Because heat energy exists even at frigid temperatures, it will draw heat through the outside environment during the winter months and employ compression to create more heat that will be sent into your house.
In the warmer seasons, the opposite occurs. By turning on the heat pump’s cooling function, it will draw heat energy from within your house and send it outdoors, where it will chill the air.
People frequently mistakenly believe that air conditioners produce cool air but, in reality, they just move heat from within your home to the outside, thus explaining why they require vents.
However, since we are growing much better at producing energy from sources of renewable energy like the sun and the wind on a worldwide scale, heat pumps have a significant advantage against gas furnaces due to the fact that they are fueled by electricity.
We might experience a significant decrease in our energy costs in the next few years because of the combination of electrical heat pumps’ improved heating efficiency and a promising future for perhaps less expensive electrical energy.
How A Homeowner Saves On Electricity from a Heat Pump
When used for heating, the strømforbruk varmepumpe does really save you money on your energy bills. As they operate similarly, it will consume about the same amount of power in cooling mode as an air conditioner. Therefore, when you need to warm your home in the winter, you will save more energy.
That is because it moves heat from one place to another rather than creating heat, which is an expensive operation. Additionally, it means that much less energy is wasted because a heat pump can move three to four times as much heat through your home with every kilowatt of electricity it consumes.
How Much Power Is Needed by a Heat Pump?
Approximately 0.8 and 5.1 kWh of electricity are used by a heat pump per hour to run it. The precise sum is determined by a variety of variables. According to the dimensions of your home, numerous sizes of heat pumps are also available, some of which are more efficient.
To start the heating system and get it going, a certain amount of electricity is required for the first couple of seconds of operation. This is something else to take into account. If you ever experience a power outage at your house and decide to use a generator to power your heat pump, you must ensure that the generator can handle the beginning wattage, which is typically within 2.4 and 15.3 kWh.
These are all typical numbers that will balance out over the course of the year, but keep in mind that depending on the weather, especially in winter when the heat pump must work harder to extract warmth from the air, you could need to operate the heating system for longer.
SEER Score
In most cases, heat pumps are not sold with a specified maximum power. The Seasonal Energy Efficiency Rating, or SEER, is more often used in their advertising than not.
It is more efficient depending on the SEER rating. The majority of household heat pumps have SEER ratings between 13 and 24, while some have upwards of as 42 (source). If you know a heat pump’s capacity, in British Thermal Units/BTU (https://www.thermal-engineering.org/what-is-british-thermal-unit-unit-btu-energy-unit-definition/), and SEER rating, you can calculate its watts.
It is a two-step formula that requires some complexity, but you must first determine the EER:
1.12 x SEER plus -0.02 x SEER2
The total wattage is then calculated by multiplying the heat pump’s capacity by its EER.
What Uses More Electricity, Heating or Cooling with a Heat Pump?
When a heat pump is heating your house rather than cooling it, it often uses more power. This is due to the fact that in cooling mode, there is a surplus of heat that can be extracted from the environment without having to work as hard.
There isn’t as much heat to pump through your home throughout the cold.
As a result, it needs to exert more effort to obtain the heat energy required to generate enough heat for warming your home. Depending on the model, as well as obviously the location you live and the environment, will determine the extent to which harder equipment has to work. Because there may be so many possible outcomes, there is no straightforward solution to provide.
Whether a heat pump on its own is all you need or if you will need to complement it is the second important question that also lacks a clear solution. And once more, that is based on a variety of variables, mostly where you reside.
A heat pump could not provide the cooling environment you want throughout your house if you reside somewhere where the summers are exceptionally hot. It will function well, but to enhance the cooler circulation, you might wish to add a few electric fans.
On the other hand, if you live in a region where the winters are really severe, you probably require more heating. That can include continuing to use your gas furnace or investing in an electric panel warmer just for those rare occasions when you need a little more heat.
Although some heat pumps also heat water, their main purpose is to heat the air.
But you might still need a propane furnace if you want adequate hot water for routine bathing. Nowadays, the majority of showers are electric, so you should not need a furnace at least to take a shower.
How Much Less Power Does The Heat Pump Use Than The Air Conditioner?
When in cooling mode, heat pumps consume roughly the same amount of power as comparable air conditioners. They both function by drawing energy from heat from the inside air and sending it outdoors.
Given that heat pumps do not save you money on your energy bill and are not any more effective at cooling, is it still worthwhile to replace your air conditioner with one?
Actually, if you also need to heat your house, then definitely. In addition to saving money on heating costs, using a heat pump instead of separate cooling and heating systems makes maintenance simpler (and less expensive).
What Is The Cost Of Running A Heat Pump?
The size and efficiency of the heat pump affect its operating costs. You may anticipate it will cost around 11 and 71.4 cents every hour to operate considering an average cost of $0.14 per kWh.
The total wattage, the number you can get through the SEER and BTU numbers as mentioned above, may be used to determine how much the heat pump costs to operate.
Once you have your total watts of electricity divide the result by 1,000 to obtain your total kilowatt-hours. From there, multiply that figure by the cost of power in your area per kWh.
Do Heat Pumps Really Save You Money?
A heat pump will often cost less than a gas furnace or additional heating appliances, but it probably will not cost less than an air conditioner. How much depends on several factors, including the measurement of your home, the cost of gas and electricity in your area, and more.
Because there are so many variables at play, it is difficult to even provide an average, yet it would be considered normal for many individuals to anticipate savings of about $100 a year on your costs if you convert to a thermal pump.
It goes beyond merely saving money. It is not only about cost-cutting; it is also about your environmental effect. Electricity is a significantly cleaner energy than natural gas since it is now frequently produced utilizing renewable technologies.
There are other things you can do around the house to save money on heating and energy bills, and many of them are simple common sense solutions to energy waste. For example, if you’re chilly inside your home but not uncomfortable, try putting on a sweater to mitigate the chill until it’s absolutely necessary to run the heat inside your house.
Also, be certain your home is well sealed against drafts, and that your ductwork has been inspected in the last five years. Minor cracks and door and window gaps, in addition to ductwork that is damaged, cause major losses of heat and major wastes of energy dollars. Turn off lights and appliances that aren’t currently in use. Also, try to minimize the opening of doors and windows when the heat or air conditioning is in use so that the comfortable air is kept inside, instead of being fanned outdoors.
