What is the Difference Between a Furnace & a Heat Pump?
Furnaces and heat pumps can both keep your home toasty. Your furnace works by burning fuel in a combustion chamber, while the heat pump draws heat form a source such as the ground and releases the heat into the house. In 2010, both devices are commonly used to heat a house. Does this Spark an idea?
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Different Types of Furnace
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Furnaces can burn many types of fuel. Traditionally furnaces worked on coal, but today they also may use number 2 fuel oil, a petroleum product, propane or natural gas, or even wood. All of these furnaces work on the principle that the fuel is introduced into a combustion chamber and ignited.
The Heat Pump
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As the name implies, a heat pump pumps heat from one place to another. To heat a home, it takes the heat from an outside source and pumps it into your house. It is possible to take heat from the air outside your house and pump it inside. Another variety is the geothermal heat pump that takes heat from the ground and transfers it to your house.
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How an Air-Based Heat Pump Works
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You may think that since it is zero degrees outside that no heat is available. Yet in relation to absolute zero (minus-459 degrees Fahrenheit or minus-273 degrees Celsius) an abundance of heat is in the air. The heat pump system removes and concentrates the heat and pumps it where needed.
The Geothermal Heat Pump
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Another concept for home heating is the geothermal heat pump system. In the winter the top 18 inches of the ground may freeze, but at 20 feet deep the earth is still around 60 degrees Fahrenheit. To make a geothermal heat pump, you install a grid of pipe into the ground, add a fluid to get the heat from the ground and pump it into your house, where the heat is removed from the pipes and used to heat your home.
Cost Considerations
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The cost of a 3-ton geothermal heat pump in 2010 was about $7,500. The cost of a furnace depends on the size and the existing hardware in the house. A small unit can be installed for as little as $1,000, whereas a furnace with the equivalent heating capacity of a 3-ton geothermal thermal heat pump would be about $4,500. The heat pump costs about 30 to 60 percent less to run and maintain than the traditional furnace.
A Combination of the Two
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While the heat pump is a great device and is inexpensive to run compared to a furnace, most systems cannot heat a house entirely on their own. So one efficient option is to use a heat pump in tandem with a furnace. This will keep your house warm and help reduce your heating costs.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit furnace image by sumos from Fotolia.com
