Owner
We often get asked, what is the difference between a heat pump and a straight cool air conditioner and why should I buy one vs. the other?
The fact is, when it comes to cooling your home there is little difference between the two systems. Both pump cool refrigerant into a coil that air then run across to remove humidity and cool the air. Hot gas is returned to the compressor to be cool and repeat the cycle. There is no cost savings of one vs. the other in cooling mode.
The big difference in these two systems is how they heat a home. A straight cool system will use an electric heating element inside the air handler to heat the air. This is a very inefficient method of heating as the element will require lots of electricity to get heated to the necessary temperature to be effective. Electric heating is usually the most expensive form of heating you can use.
A heat pump only uses an electric heater as an emergency backup and instead reverses the flow of refrigerant to the air handler, sending cool gas to the compressor and hot gas to the coil to heat the air as it passes over. This is accomplished by a reversing valve in the compressor that enables the reverse flow of the gas. This provides an efficient system for heating in mild winter environments.
One thing to be aware of is that since the cool gas is being pushed back to the compressor the heat pump will freeze over the coil. This panics many people but is a normal operation of the system. The heat pump has a defrost mechanism that will unfreeze the coil.
A heat pump will generally cost a bit more than a straight cool system but the energy savings over the life of the system generally pays for the difference.
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