Buying a house with a heat pump
I just recently learned about electric heat pumps. I had never heard of this type of temperature control system until I started touring houses down south. I was ready to move from the north and get away from sub zero temperatures and snow. I’d never owned a house equipped with central air conditioning and always relied on a furnace for the majority of the year. The properties down south were outfitted with air conditioners, packaged units and heat pumps. The real estate agent acted super impressed over the heat pumps. She made sure to point them out to me. I pretended that I knew what she was talking about. When I finally got the chance to do some research, I learned that electric heat pumps are quite costly to purchase and install. The single component provides both heating and cooling capacity. The systems are especially quiet, clean and environmentally friendly. Instead of a combustion process to generate heat, a heat pump works by moving existing heat between the indoors and outdoors. In cooling mode, it operates almost exactly like a conventional air conditioner. It pulls heat out of the house and sends it outside by way of refrigerant. The true innovation of a heat pump is that it can literally reverse the process. In heating mode, the system finds ambient heat in the outside air and brings it indoors. There are no fumes, greenhouse gasses or hot surfaces to worry about. The house I ended up buying features a very modern heat pump that includes adaptable-speed technology, wifi access and zone control.