High Efficiency Heat Pumps
With a heat pump, one single system heats and cools your home. A heat pump works efficiently by transferring heat instead of creating it.
Though there are several types of heat pumps—including air-source, geothermal and absorption—they all work on the same principle. During the heating season, a heat pump system pulls heat out of the air or ground outside and transfers it into your home. By contrast, a conventional furnace "combusts" natural gas or propane inside your home. During cooling season, a heat pump pulls heat out of your home to maintain a comfortable temperature.
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Heat pumps offer a number of benefits:
- Comfort: The air delivered by heat pumps is consistent, without hot or cold blasts.
- Air Quality: Heat pump systems balance humidity better than typical central air conditioners. Because the air circulates longer than with other systems, it’s filtered more often.
- Sustainability: High-efficiency heat pumps rely less on fossil fuels, reducing carbon emissions.
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A heat pump is a device identical to the air conditioner in your home with one big difference: it can reverse direction and heat in the winter, as well as provide cooling in the summer. A hybrid heat pump (also known as a ‘dual-fuel’ or ‘add-on’ heat pump) performs the same function as an all-electric heat pump but can use either electricity or gas to provide heat. It combines a traditional gas/oil/propane furnace with an electric heat pump, giving you the best of both options. It automatically switches between fuel sources to run the heat pump when it is the most efficient; which is during the mild and moderate winter temperatures. When the outside temperature drops too low (typically below the 25-30-degree range), your furnace will do most of the heating. This technology allows the system to operate the most efficiently during specific weather conditions, which maximizes comfort and efficiency and minimizes environmental impact.
Aside from providing the flexibility to use two fuel sources, there are a few key benefits to installing a hybrid heat pump.
- Heat and cool cleaner and more comfortably. When using electricity as the fuel source, you are reducing your carbon footprint by not burning a fossil fuel. As a Westar customer, that impact is even greater because 1/3 of the electricity generated to power your home comes from the wind. Added comfort comes from a heat pump retaining the moisture in the air while heating, traditional furnaces dry out the air in your home more quickly.
- Set it and forget it. Being able to switch fuel sources is a great benefit, it’s also easy to set up and manage. When your hybrid heat pump is installed, standard recommended settings are provided by the manufacturer and installer. These settings vary by region of the country you live in, so the optimal settings for our climate and seasons will be set by your installer. You will have a standard thermostat on your wall, probably just like you currently have, and can set your home to heat and cool, just as you always have. The hybrid heat pump does all the work and automatically switches fuel sources based on your settings at installation.
- Potential savings. A hybrid heating and cooling system can provide savings due to operational efficiency.
If you have more questions about hybrid heat pumps, please email residential@rebates.evergy.com.
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