the best of heat pumps

Best heat pumps

If you just want to select a good heat pump using consumer reports and reviews, you may try Furnace.com. They have tested some dozens of air source heat pump brands and models.

Just do not forget that that doesn't mean much. The best depends depends on your climate and on your home insulation levels. And depends on your goals, and also on the type of heat pumps (ductless, central air source, ground and water source and water heaters) and how much you want to spend. See: New heat pumps

Best Manufacturers and brands

Selecting the best heat pump manufacturer or the best brand and model is an impossible task, but here are some clues....

Sanyo (and Mitsubishi and Fujitsi) has very competitive ductless heat pumps. Carrier, Goodman, Trane, York or Rheem have excellent and qualified air source models. Danfoss, Carrier or American Standard have excellent ground source heat pumps. Rheem, GE and others have excellent heat pump water heaters...

But the list of reputable manufacturers is long, and some are as good as the ones we are mentioning here. See: Heat Pumps Manufacturers.

On the other hand, even the best manufacturers have also heat pumps models that are simply reasonable, good or even weak. And some of their new models aren't yet tested by time.

Also do not forget that the best depends also on the type of heat pump you want (ductless, standard air source, ground-source...) and on your home insulation, climate and your heating and cooling goals.

Best heat pump vIDEOS

Ground source heat pumps (geothermal) involve important technical knowledge, and videos can help you to understand them. See Greenspec videos (at the end of their page).

For a view of how a air-source heat pump works, you may take a look at this Danfoss video (Danfoss is an important heat pump manufacturer).

For several videos involving the heat pump industry, see Geoexchange.

Best heat pump sizing tools

Sizing your heat pump is particularly important for efficiency and to avoid temperature swings. That's something that you should discuss with a qualified professional, taking into account your climate, your goals and your home's insulation and windows... Avoid oversizing.

The tools at your disposal in the Net aren't good enough. You may try the small list of heat pump calculators listed by The Energy Grove, but they probably fall short of being useful. You may also see the AC4Life explanations of how a heat pump is sized.

To size a heat pump swimming pool heater see Energy Savers. For some good tools associated with air conditioners sizing (an issue largely similar to the sizing of heat pumps) see The Air Conditioning Best.

the most efficient heat pumps

All well-known brands have high-efficient heat pumps. See Best Heat Pumps Brands and Manufacturers in a previous entry in this page.

If you have a special sympathy for a given brand you don't have to change. Just be aware of some basics: choose a qualified model (Energy Star or other...) with a high heating (HSPF) and high cooling rating (SEER), or a high COP in the case of heat pumps. See on this issue: Heat Pumps Performance and Rating

best green alternatives to heat pumps

Heat pumps are a low-carbon electric choice, namely ground-source heat pumps. And they can both supply heat and cool to your home, with a fraction of the electricity of other electric equipment. But there are more radical alternatives to get energy savings.

If you are building a new home you may reduce your heating and cooling needs using high levels of insulation and passive heating and cooling techniques. Zone heating and cooling is also a good strategy to reduce your energy consumption (and in that case options like gas stoves, or ductless heat pumps are better choices than ducted central heat pumps)...

For green alternatives for air cooling, in a moderate dry climate, consider evaporative coolers. If you live in a hot climate, heat pumps are rarely a good solution. Natural ventilation and shading strategies are better ones (see: AC Cooling in hot climates). Wind solutions and solar solutions are also green alternatives to heat pumps in many cooling and heating strategies.

Best heat pump Technical information

For a good technical view of the ground heat pumps loop installation and configuration see the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy Geo4VA.

See also Natural Resources Canada semi-technical information on ground and air source heat pumps.

Best way to find certified heat pump professionals

Heat pump installation is very important. Oversizing if very common and a cause of malfunction and lower energy efficiency. The details and the know-how associated to ground-heat pumps installation require highly qualified professionals.

Heat pumps manufacturers can help you find dealers, contractors and qualified technicians near your home. Just look at their sites or call them.

Geochange (a heat pump association) has a very complete list of several categories of heat pump professionals. See: GeoExchange Directory. Also in North America, you may use the RESNET Qualified EnergySmart Contractor tool.

Outside USA and Canada you may try associations like...

European Heat Pump Association
European Heat Pump Network
UK: Heat Pump Association
Australia: Energy Rating Australia Government

Ground Source Heat Pump Association
International Ground Source Heat Pump Association

_____________ If you know a good resource on heat pumps that should be listed here, please let us know by email (see Home Page footer).

Note about the mentioning of commercial companies, in this page: their inclusion is part of the resources and doesn't mean we are endorsing or supporting their owners and their materials.