The Benefits of Installing a Heat Pump

Heat pumps are heating and cooling systems that exchange heat with either the air outside your home or the ground beneath it. This heat exchange process provides heated or cooled air to maintain a comfortable indoor environment for you and your family. Installing a heat pump can offer your Columbus home many benefits, ranging from tax credits to ease the cost of installation to a reduced dependence on fossil fuels for heating.

Heating, Air Conditioning, and Hot Water

A heat pump is a single appliance that can replace both your furnace and your air conditioner. Heat pumps draw heat from the outside air to warm your home in the winter but can run in reverse to cool your home in the summer. Replacing both of these systems with a single unit is cheaper both initially and over the long term, saving you money on maintenance, repair, and replacement costs. Additionally, geothermal heat pumps can be used as water heaters, providing your home with additional hot water and offsetting the costs of using your water heater during the warm summer months. If your heat pump runs consistently during hot weather, it may be able to meet all your hot water needs during this time.

Reduced Fossil Fuel Dependence

Heat pumps heat your home by drawing from the ambient heat of the air or ground outside. This process reduces or eliminates the need for an oilor gas-burning furnace, which use fossil fuels to heat air for distribution throughout your home. Installing a heat pump reduces your home’s dependence on fossil fuels, which are a limited resource. The combustion of fossil fuels also contributes greenhouse gases to the atmosphere; using a heat pump reduces this contribution greatly. While you will need to use electricity to run your heat pump, a heat pump’s carbon footprint is still significantly less than that of a fossil fuel-burning heating system.

Federal Tax Credits

Currently, the Federal Government is offering a tax credit of 30% with no upper limit on ENERGY STAR-qualified geothermal heat pumps installed before December 31st, 2016. The tax credit is applicable for geothermal heat pumps installed in both new and existing homes, as well as primary and secondary residences. This tax credit is designed to offset the initial cost of purchasing and installing the heat pump to allow families to enjoy energy savings and lower long-term operating costs for heating and cooling their home.

Heat pumps offer heating and cooling for your Columbus home at lower long-term costs than maintaining a separate furnace and air conditioner. If you’d like to learn more about your heating and cooling options, check out the additional articles on our blog. You can contact an HVAC specialist in the Columbus area to schedule maintenance, repairs, or installation on our website.