Most homes use a single primary form of heating, and are tied to whatever costs or inefficiencies those may incur – gas price spikes in a gas furnace, for example, or reduced efficiency in heat pump systems when outdoor temperatures are low.
But there's a way to dodge some costs and inefficiencies in your home's heating by using a hybrid heat dual fuel system.
A dual fuel system's operating principle is simple: use two different heating systems (a heat pump and an indoor furnace), but only use either one when it produces the best efficiency for the least cost.
Here's How It Works:
- A heat pump is an efficient system for transferring, rather than producing, heat. During the hot summer months, using the heat exchange properties of refrigerant, it can take heat from inside your home and transfer it to the outside environment, cooling your house. In cold weather, it can pull heat energy from the outside world and introduce it into your home, warming it. But because as temperatures drop lower and lower, it's harder to extract heat from the air, most heat pumps don't operate well in below-freezing temperatures. When outdoor temperatures plummet, the other part of your hybrid heat dual fuel system takes over: the furnace.
- Unlike a heat pump, a furnace actually produces heat by means of combustion. Because it doesn't need sufficient heat energy to exist in the outside world, it can operate at below-freezing temperatures, and will keep your house warmer and more comfortable more efficiently than a heat pump. And during times when natural gas prices are relatively low, heating with a furnace is actually cheaper than heating with a heat pump, despite the latter's efficiency superiority.
- Yet when natural gas prices rise, as they most certainly will, a dual-fuel system can provide protection from price fluctuations in the gas markets. By controlling the HVAC installation so that the furnace is only active when the outdoor temperatures fall below the heat pump's balance point, a hybrid heat dual fuel system reduces your house's consumption of furnace fuel.
A hybrid heat dual fuel system can perform a starring role in your home comfort and energy savings, year-round. To learn more about installation, or for any questions you might have about increasing the energy efficiency of your Fort Wayne area home, don't hesitate to contact us at Hartman Brothers Heating & Air Conditioning.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in New Haven, Indiana and surrounding Fort Wayne area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about dual fuel systems and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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