Energy efficiency, even in the cold

With the rising costs of natural gas and the push for renewable energy, many people that live in harsh mountain climates are wondering what they can do without sacrificing their time-tested gas furnace. A great solution to that problem is newer addition of efficient air-source heat pumps that work in freezing temperatures. In the past, refrigerant based heat pumps, also called air-source heat pumps, were not an option for anyone looking to heat their house when the outside temperature was below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Now that the technology has caught up, installing a condenser capable of “hyper-heat” is a viable solution to the energy efficiency problem. This is a great way to heat your house in sub-freezing temperatures, but the question of capability still stands.

Air-source heat pumps, by design, do not work quite as well as gas furnaces when the temperatures drop suddenly. A lot of times they are caught in an endless loop of trying to catch up. The solution that I have found to work, through personal experience and experimentation on my own house, is to install a “dual-fuel” system. This system uses a gas furnace and a coil with a bi-directional valve that does both A/C and heat through a refrigerant-based outside condenser. The system will use the heat functionality of the condenser down to a certain outside ambient temperature and will automatically switch over to gas heat when it needs. These parameters are adjustable based on your specific application and easily tweaked for comfort or efficiency.

There are many ways to approach these systems, favoring the gas furnace in higher temperatures or vice-versa, and it is all dependent on the heating goals of your house and the size plus design of your house. I have extensive experience engineering, sizing, and installing these systems in the harsh winter climate, and I can answer any questions you may have about installing a heat-pump on your current system or installing an entirely new system. An added bonus to this setup is that it does air conditioning for the summers that get too hot, or the years where the outside air quality is especially poor and requires you to keep your windows closed.