Heat pumps are having more than a moment in homes across B.C. and with good reason. They do dual duty to keep homes comfortable -- adding much needed cooling during these hot summer days, plus keeping us warm when winter weather set in, all while using less energy than standard portable air conditioners and traditional heating systems like baseboard heaters. You can also pair an electric heat pump with a high-efficiency gas furnace, also known as a dual fuel system, to help ensure energy-efficient comfort during even the coldest winter days.
But in our opinion, heat pumps can get a bad reputation with some people because they乌鸦传媒檙e not seeing the expected energy savings. A great example is when one of my friends moved into a new home and she asked me about her heating system. She wanted to know if a heat pump was a good option to replace the home乌鸦传媒檚 original baseboard heaters and add cooling.
My response was 乌鸦传媒淵es, talk to a heating and cooling contractor about how this will work in your home plus look into rebates to help cover the cost.乌鸦传媒�
Fast forward to early fall, about six months after she had her heat pump installed. Her baseboard heaters were still kicking on to heat her home even though weather wasn乌鸦传媒檛 cold enough to require the backup system. This shouldn乌鸦传媒檛 happen.
What was going on?
Fortunately, I spend my days surrounded by energy-efficiency experts. I put the question to the team and the consensus was that the unit may not be sized correctly for the home. Turns out a heat pump that is either too big or too small for a home can make the system require more energy use, so potentially not realize the anticipated energy savings.
According to Natural Resources Canada, if a heat pump is undersized, the backup heating system will be used more frequently. Likewise, if a heat pump is oversized, the desired energy savings may not be realized because the unit cycles on and off leading to discomfort, wear on the heat pump, and stand-by electric power draw. That乌鸦传媒檚 why retrofitting to a heat pump requires careful planning and implementation to deliver on savings.
Sure enough, in my friend乌鸦传媒檚 scenario, the heat pump was too small for her home, requiring the backup heating system to kick on more often.
So how do you do make sure your heat pump is the right size for your home? You can show your heat pump savvy by working with a licensed contractor and asking for a heating load calculation. They will determine the heating and cooling needs of the home by looking at the building size, the direction it faces, insulation levels, number of people living there, as well as the number of windows and exterior doors. From there, they can recommend the right-sized heat pump to help you save energy and money.
To help make sure every moment with your heat pump is as comfortable and energy efficient as possible, FortisBC now has stepped rebates for qualifying heat pumps that have been correctly sized by a licensed contractor through a heating load calculation-- for residential and for income-qualified electricity customers.
Nicole Brown
Nicole Brown, communications manager, FortisBC, has been helping build awareness around energy efficiency and conservation since 2009, and sees this as the essential first step lowering personal energy costs and meeting collective climate action goals. Have an energy-efficiency topic you乌鸦传媒檇 like covered? Email conversations@fortisbc.com.
