subject: The Rise and Fall of Heat Pump Prices [print this page] With so many choices and good deals available online, choosing the right heat pump can be a very daunting task. Naturally, people will want to buy the cheapest heat pump around, only to find out that it is a run for the money. It seems that getting the best of both worldsquality but cheapis tantamount to impossibility. What are the factors affecting heat pump prices?
The more environment-friendly heat pump units tend to be more expensive nowadays, since they are a trend. In some cities, buildings and residences are legally required to replace Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) heat pumps with hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) ones that do not damage the ozone layer. Buying cheaper heat pumps may be doing a great disservice to Mother Nature; it best to keep this in mind when comparing heat pump prices.
The type of heat pump also has correlation with the price. Normally, the air-source heat pumps are the cheapest out there, because they are quick and easy to install. They also have less complex mechanisms in sourcing heat from the air. The flip side of the coin, however, is that air-source heat pumps tend to decrease in its efficiency when used during extreme cold weather, since there is not much air outside to produce heat inside.
On the other hand, the ground-source, or geothermal, heat pumps, are more expensive because the installation is tedious. Contractors will have to dig down the ground to properly install this type of heat pump that gets its heat underneath the soil. Also, geothermal units are likely durable, because the temperature conditions underground are more consistent; therefore, there is less strain on the evaporator and condenser to change its Coefficient of Performance (COF).
Also, the higher the COF value is, the more expensive the heat pump will be. Geothermal heat pumps have a COF value of 4.0 to 5.0, which is higher than the air-source heat pumps. Other technical specifications that increase the price of heat pumps are the higher values of Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) and Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER). These are some of the values customers may want to ask their dealers about in purchasing heat pumps.
