Air Conditioning or a Heat Pump: Which is Better Here in Florida?

A heat pump can provide air conditioning and heating, but most people don’t realize it because of the name. That’s a shame because it means a heat pump just might be a better choice to help with the minimal need for heating we have during our mild Florida winters.

There are a few excellent reasons to consider investing in a heat pump if it’s time to replace your air conditioning system. To understand why, we need to take a look at the difference between a heat pump and an air conditioner.

Air conditioning in reverse

Generally, air conditioners and heat pumps are the same thing. Heat pumps, however, can reverse themselves. It handles heat in both directions.

• It moves heat from the inside to the outside to create cooling.
• It moves heat from the outside to the inside to create heating.

Even so, heat pumps and air conditioners work under the same principles. We tend to think that during the Florida summer, our A/C is adding cool air to indoor spaces. In reality, the system is removing heat from the inside air. A heat pump does the same thing.

During the winter, though, a heat pump reverses the process to extract heat from the outside air and bring it indoors. Heat is energy. While it might not feel all that warm outside, the heat pump is extremely efficient at capturing the energy it needs to maintain a comfortable interior temperature.

There are two main types of heat pumps. One uses the air outside your home. The second type uses heat from the ground or groundwater under your home. The temperature down there remains relatively constant, so this type of heat pump is a more efficient choice in areas where it gets much colder than Florida. There’s still a reason to consider this type of heat pump, though. It can also be used to provide free hot water.

Best of both worlds

A heat pump eliminates the need to have both an air conditioning system and a heating system. A heat pump and an air conditioning system will use about the same amount of energy to cool your home. However, a heat pump is superior to a traditional furnace system. It needs only half the energy. How does that work?

The heat pump just has to move heat. A traditional furnace has to create heat. The process a heat pump uses takes only a small amount of electricity – but it moves up to three times the amount of heat energy indoors.

A heat pump often is an ideal choice if you are replacing an older HVAC system. If it’s 10 years or older, a new system can save you up to 40 percent in energy costs – whether its an A/C system or a heat pump. Contact us today for a free consultation. We’ll help you decide if a heat pump is the most efficient replacement choice.