If you’re sick of paying for fuel for a furnace, you’ll be happy to know that Virginia’s climate is warm enough to eliminate that requirement – without requiring you to resort to space heaters. Heat pumps in Centreville, VA bring heat in from the outdoors when it is needed to warm your home. Even better, they do the opposite during the warm seasons so they serve as air conditioners, too.
The basic priniciples of heat transfer are at the foundation of how heat pumps work. Normally, heat will move from a hotter area to a cool one. The “pumping” part of a heat pump’s operation amounts to the reversal of this process. When one of these units is in operation, heat will be moved from the cooler area to the hotter one.
To put it another way, a heat pump can be compared to a souped-up air conditioner. When an air conditioner runs, it collects heat from a warm area like a home or building, and then uses coils to dump that heat outdoors into an even hotter area. The refrigerant cools down once the heat is released, so it can cycle through again and pick up yet more heat. What makes a heat pump different is that this cycle can be reversed. During the winter, the system runs backwards so that the heat is dumped into your home instead of outdoors.
Is it Better to Use a Heat Pump or a Furnace and Air Conditioner?
The answer to this depends mainly on where you live. Virginia is a good state for heat pump use because it has relatively mild weather. Therefore, companies like Woody’s Sudden Service of Manassas offer both repair and installation of the devices.
Heat pumps can bring heat in if the weather outside is chilly, but not downright cold, and for their air conditioning function, they often can’t beat tremendous heat. This makes them best for days that are a bit uncomfortable, but not ridiculously so either way. Since almost every area has some exceptional days, it’s a good idea to use heat pumps in Centreville, VA that include augmentation. Such augmentation allows a more traditional means of heating and cooling to kick in on the extreme days. This allows you to save money most of the year while still ensuring that you don’t sacrifice your comfort.
