Heat pumps offer an energy-efficient alternative to furnaces and air conditioners – all in one unit! Because they are so efficient, and use only electricity to operate, they offer significant savings in utility costs.
These units provide both heating and cooling, all in one system. Heat pumps work like your refrigerator. They use electricity to move heat from a cool space to a warm space, making the cool space cooler and the warm space warmer. During the heating season, they move heat from the cool outdoors into your warm house. During the cooling season, heat pumps move heat from your cool house into the warm outdoors. The system consists of an indoor unit called an Air Handler, and an outdoor unit that is called the Heat Pump. Because they move heat rather than generate heat, they can provide heat or cooling at as little as one quarter of the cost of operating conventional heating or cooling appliances.
Since they handle both cooling and heating, homeowners may not need to install separate systems. You can have comfort in your home, and save on equipment costs and space requirements. The central unit is far less invasive to install than traditional heating or air conditioning systems, so they are perfect replacement systems for existing buildings. Heat pumps do not burn fossil fuel like furnaces do, making them far more environmentally friendly.
Heat pumps are far less expensive to run than systems based on combustion that make heat. All heat pumps require is electricity to “pump” cold and hot air between the indoors and outdoors. Heat pumps save several hundred to more than a thousand dollars in energy costs per year.
Heat pump systems reduces your carbon emissions because they do not use fuels resources and have an extremely efficient conversion rate of energy to heat.
In Maine, few homes have central air conditioning systems installed, but our summers are becoming hotter and hotter for longer periods of time. A heat pump system can conveniently be switched to cooling mode during warmer months for year round comfort from one unit.
A heat pump also offers the ability to remove excess moisture from rooms, reducing indoor humidity levels for efficient dehumidification.
With proper maintenance, heat pumps last 15 years and beyond, making them a very reliable and steady source of heat and cooling for years beyond traditional systems.
The interior circulating unit of a heat pump can be placed on any flat ceiling, wall or floor surface. They do not require any additional interior equipment to provide heating and cooling for an entire home or floor of a building.
For larger homes and buildings, one outdoor unit can provide for multiple indoor units. Each indoor unit has individual temperature controls for whole-house comfort, and more energy savings.
The compressors and motors for a heat pump are in the exterior unit, providing a quiet indoor environment.
Heat pumps can be fitted with an electrostatic air filter that absorbs dust, mold spores, and microorganisms, with ion deodorization, for improved air quality.
These units require less maintenance than combustion heating systems. There are components that should be checked annually, and can be done by a homeowner. Professional inspection is recommended every three years, as opposed to the annual needs of a traditional heating system.
Heat pumps are far safer to operate than combustion-based systems.
Efficiency Maine offers significant rebates to Maine homeowners and businesses on the installation of heat pump systems. More than 45,000 heat pumps have been installed in homes and businesses across Maine over the past five years. They are the most popular heating system across all of Efficiency Maine’s rebates because they offer highly efficient heating, air conditioning, and dehumidification. Efficiency Maine offers rebates of up to $1,500 for residential heat pumps. Learn more at Efficiency Maine.
