Home Ownership The decision to install a heat pump can't be made lightly. They cost $3000 to $4000 - a lot of money to recoup in energy savings. And unless they come with a built-in electric furnace, heat pumps require a back-up heating system. The disadvantages are somewhat balanced by heat pumps' incredible efficiency ratings. Other heating systems do well to approach 80 per cent efficiency over a heating season. Any heat pump worth its salt operates well above 150 per cent. At best, they give back (in heat) four times the energy used to run them. In areas of Canada with more moderate temperatures (4800 Celsius degree-days or less) they can produce heating and cooling savings of 50 per cent.

Heat pumps are just fancy air conditioners. They work on the same principle: Energy, in the form of heat, flows from warm areas to cold ones. Heat pumps capitalize on this "free" energy to keep homes cool in summer and warm in winter.

Like air conditioners and refrigerators, air-to-air heat pumps use an easily liquified gas called 'freon' as combined heater/coolant. The freon circulates between the inside and outside of the house, changing from liquid to gas. To extract heat from the outside air, the freon must be at a lower temperature than the outside air. Useful heat is released from the freon when it is liquified indoors.




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December 4, 2008