Upgrade to a High Efficiency Heat Pump and Save
South Mississippi offers the ideal environment for an electric heat pump to operate and offer optimal savings. It is important to understand that a heat pump looks and is constructed with nearly all the parts with that of an electric furnace. However, your primary source of heating does not come from electric resistance heat. An electric heat pump offers technology that allows for the heat pump to draw heat energy from the air outside of your house through the condenser coil and releases inside by the evaporator coil. This is done at one-third of the cost of an electric furnace. So, on a typical fall or winter morning, your electric heat pump will operate at an average of $.30 per hour while the most efficient electric furnace will operate at $1.00 per hour of run time.
Two important factors should be considered when upgrading your HVAC equipment. First is the size of the equipment. This unit of measure is referred to as the tonnage, and it is dictated by the location of your home, building components and internal heat gains of your home. The best method used to properly size your HVAC equipment is by having a load calculation run on your home. This is the only way to be confident you are installing properly sized equipment. Most HVAC contactors will provide this service.
The second factor that offers insight into system performance is the heat pump’s Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) and the Heating Seasonal Performance Factor (HSPF). SEER ratings indicate how efficient the heat pump is while in cooling mode, and HSPF offers a rating on how effective the heat pump is in heating mode. The Department of Energy regulates that a minimum SEER rating on any HVAC equipment on the market is no less than 14 SEER. An electric furnace’s performance is the more costly of any electric source of heat with an HSPF of 3.4, while high efficiency heat pumps perform at an HSPF of 8.0-10.0.
As a member of Singing River Electric, you are eligible to receive energy efficiency rebates for changing out an electric or gas HVAC system for a new high-efficiency electric heat pump. If your central heating and cooling system is nearing the end of its life or if you are considering upgrading, contact one of our local Singing River Electric offices or complete the Heat Pump Rebate form to get the process started. In most cases, the Singing River Electric heat pump change out $400 rebate covers the cost of the heat pump upgrade
For more insight into potential savings, check out our heat pump page and our home energy calculators.