By the time you read this, the recent cold wave will be history and the heavy snows will have melted in Washington DC. But the spate of extreme weather may have got you wondering. Should you trust this old system to make it through the season? After all, the folk wisdom says buy your furnace in summer and air conditioner in winter. But folk wisdom isn’t always . . . wise.
There are mid-winter deals out there— especially in Florida and Georgia where winter is less extreme than Up North. Maybe it’s a good time to check out a new heat pump. That would solve a handful of issues.
One, it would cost less to operate so you might find your payback period is shorter than you expected. Two, a ductless mini-split handles heat and air conditioning. Three, no ducting necessary! Save yourself the expense and hassle of cutting through walls and floors. And four, a new heat pump uses the most advanced refrigerant on the market so you’ll be adding less pollution to the atmosphere.
The new heat pumps use so-called ‘inverter’ technology. A variable-speed compressor adjusts to temperature changes smoothly. Heat pumps are inherently more efficient than the on/off type of furnace or AC unit. For every unit of energy consumed, they give you three units of heat.
Heat pumps made to work in the cold
Some heat pumps are made to keep you comfy even when the outside temperature goes down to minus-20 F. They’re made with a SEER rating of 30.5, you control them with your smart phone or tablet.Here’s one Mitsubishi model (http://www.comfortup.com/mitsubishi-mz-fh09na-9-000-btu-30-5-seer-wall-mount-ductless-split-heat-pump-system-208-230v-w-i-see-h2i-hyper-heat) that has i-see Sensor 3D technology. This is a scanner that divides the room into 752 fields, then senses whether there are bodies in that space. If there is nobody in the room, the system shifts into energy-saving mode.
With this kind of product, it makes sense to check out the heat pump now. Why wait when you could be saving money for the rest of the winter?