Home Heating - Why You Should Own a Heat Pump to Heat Your House
Canadian homeowners have a lot of choices today with home heating and heat pump technology and how to heat and cool their homes.
It can be a very confusing task when you don't know anything about the different ways a house can be outfitted with a central heating system.
If you live in a city or town, most of them have the provision of natural gas that come right past your door.
Almost all heating contractors will suggest that you have a high efficient natural gas furnace installed.
They preach that this is the most cost effective way to heat your home.
If you live outside these areas that don't have natural gas going past your door, what do you decide on? There is always the decision to choose an oil furnace.
Oil furnaces are getting much more efficient that years gone by, however there is always the concern of having an oil spill that will devastate the smell of your home but could create a negative effect when it comes to your insurance company.
If this was to happen, your insurance company would probably put you on the black list as far as an insurable household.
Not to scare you, because there are new oil tanks that are designed to eliminate the probability of a spill happening.
However, these tanks are very expensive when compared to the old steel tanks we are used to in years gone past.
This drives up the cost of installation and because these oil furnace are 85% efficient at best, it makes the return on investment longer.
Again, living outside the city where natural gas is available, many homeowners have moved away from the high cost of oil and the fear of oil spills to installing a high efficient propane furnace.
These furnaces are the same furnaces that are used for natural gas equipment but the cost of propane can be very expensive.
The other difficult situation that happens with propane is the volatile pricing structure.
It makes it very hard for the homeowner to set and stick to household energy budget.
Heating a home with electric baseboards or an electric furnace is the most efficient type of heating system.
When I say efficient, I mean there is no efficiency loss.
Electric heat is 100% efficient.
No combustion losses are experienced.
If you don't understand this statement, let's go back to the conversation of the oil furnace that is 85% efficient at best.
These means as the oil burns to produce the heat, 15% of that heat goes up the chimney as wasted energy.
The other thing about these system mentioned you still have to install an air conditioner on the fossil fuel furnace to give you the summertime comfort most homeowners are looking for.
This is another cost added to the comfort system that will lengthen your return on investment.
Geothermal Heat pumps are a clean and cost effective way to heat your home, but there a limited number of household that can afford a $30,000 to $50,000 heating system.
This brings us to the consideration of a low temperature Air Source Heat Pump that has the capability to take heat from the outside air all the way down to the low temperature of -35°C.
Installing this type of central heating system can be the best way to cut your energy costs by up to 67%.
Now some will tell you that this percentage is all dependent on the temperature you keep your house at, where you live, how tight your house is, how good your windows are and so on.
In fact, if you are heating with another type of fuel, the heat loss of your house is the heat loss of your house.
This heat pump is going to heat it just fine but will be more cost effective to operate by the same percentage.
If you take measures to tighten your home and whether you use oil, gas, geothermal heat pump or a air source heat pump or electric, the heating costs will be relative.
Installing a low temperature air source heat pump will give you years of cost savings and lower your carbon footprint because it doesn't burn fossil fuels.
It will also give you the comfort of heating your home in the winter and cooling your home in the summer.
These Low Temperature Heat Pumps can be as efficient as 200% at very low outside air temperatures.
Not 85%, not 100% but 200%.
Another really important benefit to a low temperature heat pump is for those unfortunate people that have high allergy sensitivities to products like oil, natural gas and propane.
These heat pumps do not give off fumes whatsoever that may affect this type of person.
It can be a very confusing task when you don't know anything about the different ways a house can be outfitted with a central heating system.
If you live in a city or town, most of them have the provision of natural gas that come right past your door.
Almost all heating contractors will suggest that you have a high efficient natural gas furnace installed.
They preach that this is the most cost effective way to heat your home.
If you live outside these areas that don't have natural gas going past your door, what do you decide on? There is always the decision to choose an oil furnace.
Oil furnaces are getting much more efficient that years gone by, however there is always the concern of having an oil spill that will devastate the smell of your home but could create a negative effect when it comes to your insurance company.
If this was to happen, your insurance company would probably put you on the black list as far as an insurable household.
Not to scare you, because there are new oil tanks that are designed to eliminate the probability of a spill happening.
However, these tanks are very expensive when compared to the old steel tanks we are used to in years gone past.
This drives up the cost of installation and because these oil furnace are 85% efficient at best, it makes the return on investment longer.
Again, living outside the city where natural gas is available, many homeowners have moved away from the high cost of oil and the fear of oil spills to installing a high efficient propane furnace.
These furnaces are the same furnaces that are used for natural gas equipment but the cost of propane can be very expensive.
The other difficult situation that happens with propane is the volatile pricing structure.
It makes it very hard for the homeowner to set and stick to household energy budget.
Heating a home with electric baseboards or an electric furnace is the most efficient type of heating system.
When I say efficient, I mean there is no efficiency loss.
Electric heat is 100% efficient.
No combustion losses are experienced.
If you don't understand this statement, let's go back to the conversation of the oil furnace that is 85% efficient at best.
These means as the oil burns to produce the heat, 15% of that heat goes up the chimney as wasted energy.
The other thing about these system mentioned you still have to install an air conditioner on the fossil fuel furnace to give you the summertime comfort most homeowners are looking for.
This is another cost added to the comfort system that will lengthen your return on investment.
Geothermal Heat pumps are a clean and cost effective way to heat your home, but there a limited number of household that can afford a $30,000 to $50,000 heating system.
This brings us to the consideration of a low temperature Air Source Heat Pump that has the capability to take heat from the outside air all the way down to the low temperature of -35°C.
Installing this type of central heating system can be the best way to cut your energy costs by up to 67%.
Now some will tell you that this percentage is all dependent on the temperature you keep your house at, where you live, how tight your house is, how good your windows are and so on.
In fact, if you are heating with another type of fuel, the heat loss of your house is the heat loss of your house.
This heat pump is going to heat it just fine but will be more cost effective to operate by the same percentage.
If you take measures to tighten your home and whether you use oil, gas, geothermal heat pump or a air source heat pump or electric, the heating costs will be relative.
Installing a low temperature air source heat pump will give you years of cost savings and lower your carbon footprint because it doesn't burn fossil fuels.
It will also give you the comfort of heating your home in the winter and cooling your home in the summer.
These Low Temperature Heat Pumps can be as efficient as 200% at very low outside air temperatures.
Not 85%, not 100% but 200%.
Another really important benefit to a low temperature heat pump is for those unfortunate people that have high allergy sensitivities to products like oil, natural gas and propane.
These heat pumps do not give off fumes whatsoever that may affect this type of person.