Heat Pump Service in San Marcos

Are Heat Pumps A Good Choice For Residents In San Marcos, Buda, Kyle, New Braunfels & Central Texas?

AirOne Heating and Air Conditioning technicians are experienced professionals when it comes to repairing, maintaining, servicing or installing heating systems. Heat pump systems are commonly air source or ground source systems that (like air conditioners) transfer heat from one from outside a home to inside a home. All refrigeration systems transfer heat as opposed to creating heat by the chemical process of combustion. To convert a cooling system into a heat pump system manufacturers use a reversing valve that reverses the functions of the indoor and outdoor coils. In winter, the indoor coil of a heat pump gets hot while the outside coil gets cold.

Heat pump systems are constructed of the same basic components used in air conditioning systems with the addition of a reversing valve, defrost board, and refrigerant receiver. Special thermostats compatible with specialized heat pump features are used to help control the additional features of the heat pump system. Heat pump systems are much more energy efficient in the Central Texas area than electric heat systems.

Air Source Heat Pumps

Air source heat pumps capture heat from the outdoor air and transfer that heat inside your home using the refrigerant in the heat pump system as a transfer source. Air source heat pumps can be two to three times more efficient than electric heat systems here in the Central Texas area. Electric heat systems produce around 3.414 Btu’s per KW compared to heat pump systems can produce from 7 to 13 Btu’s per KW.

Although air-source heat pumps can be used in nearly all parts of the United States, they do not generally perform well over extended periods of sub-freezing temperatures. In regions with sub-freezing winter temperatures, it may not be cost effective to meet all your heating needs with a standard air-source heat pump. Heat Pumps air ideal Heating & cooling systems in central Texas

Ground Source Heat Pumps

Ground source heat pumps capture heat from pipes buried in the ground. A food grade glycol solution is used to transfer heat from the ground, into the refrigerant and then inside your home. These pipes may be in deep wells or buried in relatively shallow trenches. Unlike air source heat pumps who’s capacity, efficiency and vary with outdoor temperatures, ground source heat pumps maintain more consistent capacity, and efficiency outputs due to the relative consistent temperature of the the earth.

Heat pumps operate much like air conditioning systems but use a refrigerant reversing valve in the outdoor condenser on a call for heat. The reversing valve will reverse the flow of refrigerant when “heat” is selected at the thermostat. The functions of the outdoor and indoor coils are reversed on a call for heat, causing the air handler to produce warm air rather than cool air.

When operating in the heating mode for long periods of time, heat pumps will begin to form frost or ice on the outdoor coil. This frost is a normal part of how a heat pump operates. As the frost builds, however, system efficiency will begin to decline. To maintain efficiency, the heat pump will cycle into a defrost mode to melt the frost.

Once the frost or ice have melted, the heat pump will once again return to the heating mode of operation. When in defrost, or if otherwise necessary, heat pump systems use standard electric heating elements in order to maintain indoor comfort levels.

Modern heat pump systems are a great energy choice for the San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, and New Braunfels areas since heat pumps can produce heat at a fraction of the cost of electric heat.