If heat pump replacement is on your to-do list this season, sizing the new system properly to meet your heating and cooling needs is essential when it comes to efficiency and home comfort. In northwest Arkansas, our long, hot and sticky summers make accurate HVAC system sizing particularly important to keep heat, humidity and energy costs under control. Lkewise, you’ll want a system that can turn around and provide energy savings and comfort during our chilly winters. For this reason, be sure that you choose an HVAC contractor who will take the time to conduct a detailed assessment of your home’s heating and cooling loads, rather than estimating what you need based on the size of your home or the equipment you will be replacing.
Sized properly, a heat pump will work to cool and dehumidify your home just as a typical central air conditioner would – by using a refrigerant to transfer heat from inside your home to the condensing unit outdoors, where it is dispersed into the outside air, As indoor air is cooled, some of its moisture condenses on the evaporator coil and drains away, reducing indoor humidity. In cold weather, that cycle is reversed, bringing heat into the home to warm indoor air.
Choosing equipment that is too small or too large during heat pump replacement can make a big difference in the performance and efficiency of your system. If your new heat pump is too small, it will struggle to satisfy your heating and cooling demands on a consistent basis. At the same time, it will use a lot of energy. Over-sized equipment, a rather common problem, will have short run cycles, which uses more energy than properly timed cycles. Since moisture is only removed when the heat pump is running, shorter cycles mean poor humidity control, a situation that will make you less comfortable and pose the risk of moisture damage or mold growth. Finally, an oversized system may not cool and heat your home evenly, since it’s starting and stopping so frequently.
For more information on heat pump replacement and accurate equipment sizing, pleas contact us at Paschal Heat, Air & Geothermal. We’ve been serving the home comfort needs of homeowners in northwest Arkansas for over 40 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Northwest Arkansas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about heat pump replacement and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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