Heat Pump 101: A Homeowner's Introduction
Posted on: 14 December 2019
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Home heating systems can be one of the most confusing aspects of home maintenance and care. This is especially true if your home has a heat pump. Since heat pumps aren't as common as fuel-burning furnaces, many homeowners find themselves confused and uncertain about the system's operation and care. If you've recently bought a home with a heat pump, here are a few things that you need to know.
Can a Heat Pump Work in Cold Weather?
Since heat pumps draw heat from the environment around them, you may wonder if a heat pump will work for your home in the winter. In most cases, heat pumps are a perfectly effective heat source for winter weather. However, if the winter temperatures where you live get particularly cold, you may need to have an emergency heat source installed. Typically a fuel-burning furnace, these heat sources are designed to pick up the slack when there isn't enough heat available to draw on.
How Do Heat Pumps Work?
There are two different primary styles of heat pumps. Geothermal pumps draw their heat from below the ground level. The residual heat in the ground is used to create heat in your home. Air-drawn heat pumps are installed above ground level. These units draw heat from the air around the pump, using that heat for your home. Geothermal heat pumps may be more consistent than air units, but ask your heating contractor about which is best where you live.
Can a Heat Pump Freeze?
If you live in an area that has temperatures below freezing, you might wonder if that can cause your heat pump to freeze up. Much like an air conditioning unit, it's possible for your heat pump to freeze up. Heat pumps have an integrated defrost mode that will automatically engage if the unit develops any ice or frost. It's perfectly natural for your unit to automatically enter defrost mode when necessary, but if it's cycling in and out too frequently, you'll have to be sure that you have it evaluated by a technician to be sure that there are no problems.
These are some of the things that every homeowner needs to know about heat pump systems. Talk with a heat pump technician near you for more information. He or she can tell you about the heat pump system installed for your home so that you can understand its capabilities, design, and function.