Heat pumps are growing in popularity because they offer both heating and cooling power in a compact, yet efficient system. They are available in models that can handle an entire home or act as part of a ductless split system for custom, room-by-room temperature control. Despite its small size, a heat pump can deliver big benefits when chosen and properly installed by an experienced team. Below is some info on heat pumps. How Heat Pumps Work Air-to-air source heat pumps use a unique process that extracts existing heat energy from outdoor air to warm your home. A liquid refrigerant absorbs energy from outside and transfers it inside to raise the temperature. (Yes, even when the air outside feels cold, it still contains a significant amount of energy that can be used to warm your home.) To cool your home in summer, the process reverses. The heat pump captures energy inside your home and draws it outside to lower the indoor temperature to a more comfortable level. Heat Pumps Pull Double-Duty Because heat pumps can heat and cool your home, you don’t need separate systems for summer and winter. This alone saves money, but the real cost benefits come from lower energy bills. Heat pumps transfer energy rather than burning fuel to create it, making them both highly efficient and environmentally friendly systems. In colder climates, like ours, most homeowners also have a traditional furnace as a backup heat source. But it only kicks in when temperatures are extremely low and heat energy is harder to come by. Depending on the size and configuration of your home, our installation experts can recommend options that will offer you the best balance of comfort and cost savings. Room for a Heat Pump Even if you have traditional heating and cooling systems, there may still be room for a heat pump. Especially if certain rooms are not well serviced by your boiler, furnace, or central air conditioner. In these cases, a ductless split system is an ideal addition. It’s a two-part system—with an outdoor condenser and one or more indoor units—that delivers warm or cool air to rooms that need it. It installs easily in an addition, sunroom, attic, or other space that needs special attention, making that room perfectly comfortable without affecting thermostat settings for the rest of your home.