Heat pumps are quickly becoming the most popular HVAC option in California and various other parts of the country. The reason is that heat pumps provide so many excellent benefits that traditional HVAC units can’t even come close to competing with. We’ll explore some of these benefits to show you why installing a heat pump for your home is such a smart choice.

Effective Cooling and Heating

One of the best things about a heat pump is that you only need to pay to install and maintain a single appliance instead of having separate heating and cooling units like you do with a traditional HVAC system. With a traditional HVAC system, you have far more components and many more things that could go wrong.

There’s a chance that a heat pump will have a slightly shorter lifespan than a traditional HVAC system since it functions to both heat your house in the winter and cool it in the summer. Nonetheless, a heat pump will almost always be far more cost-effective.

One concern is that some heat pumps can’t heat all that effectively once it starts getting fairly cold outside. In extremely cold climates, there can be times when it gets so cold that a heat pump can’t work at all. However, these issues aren’t something you’ll need to worry about in Victorville, CA. Thanks to our milder winter weather, a well-maintained heat pump that’s functioning properly is unlikely to have any difficulty with keeping your house sufficiently heated.

High Energy Efficiency

The one area where heat pumps really stand out is when it comes to how efficiently they heat. Compared to all of the other possible heating options, a properly maintained heat pump will typically consume only a third of the energy and sometimes even less. Gas heating is only 80% to 98% efficient. Other types of electric heating are usually around 100% efficient, but most heat pumps are typically at least 300% efficient. You may see a slight decrease in the energy efficiency of a heat pump whenever the temperature outdoors is below 40 degrees, but even then, the total energy consumption will be far less than any other option you could choose.

This superior energy efficiency results from the fact that a heat pump uses electricity to transfer heat from outside to inside the house. All traditional heating units instead use energy to directly produce heat, which isn’t nearly as efficient. With a gas furnace, some energy is wasted when some of the heat the furnace produces flows outside through the flue or exhaust vent.

Smaller Carbon Footprint

The fact that heat pumps are so energy efficient means that using one to heat your home will also shrink your carbon footprint. Gas furnaces have a fairly large carbon footprint since they continually produce carbon dioxide as they run.

Electric baseboard heaters and electric furnaces don’t directly produce carbon emissions. Nonetheless, they can have an even higher carbon footprint than a gas furnace. That’s because these other types of electric heating use far more energy, and much of our electricity still comes from burning fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. The only time these other options will have a lower carbon footprint than a gas furnace is if the electricity used to run them comes from renewable sources like wind, solar or hydroelectric and/or a non-carbon source like a nuclear power plant. Even then, a heat pump will always be the most eco-friendly choice simply because it uses so much less energy and puts far less strain on the electrical grid.

Since heat pumps are the most environmentally friendly HVAC option, there are much better incentives available for homeowners who install a high-efficiency, ENERGY STAR-certified unit. An ENERGY STAR furnace or traditional air conditioner only qualifies for up to a $600 federal income tax credit, whereas you can get up to a $2,000 credit for installing an ENERGY STAR heat pump. Your electricity provider may also reward you with an additional rebate or credit when you switch to a heat pump.

Aace's Heating, Air Conditioning & Swamp Coolers offers premier HVAC services for home and business owners in Victorville and throughout the surrounding areas. If you’re considering upgrading to a heat pump system, we have a variety of excellent options that will meet your cooling and heating needs. You can also trust our team to professionally handle your HVAC maintenance and repair or indoor air quality needs.

To learn more about the heat pumps we offer or to schedule a service appointment, contact us at Aace's Heating, Air Conditioning & Swamp Coolers today.

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