Now that we have identified what forced air is, we can talk about another common form of heating. Heat pumps. At Beaver Heating & Air, we LOVE heat pumps. Simple to use heating/cooling and high efficiency, heat pumps are a great option for most people. There are a couple different variations of heat pumps. Forced air and ductless. If you want to learn more about forced air, take a look at our previous post on Furnaces.
A forced air heat pump system uses refrigeration to heat and cool the home. There are two main pieces of equipment, an indoor (Air Handler), and an outdoor (Condensing Unit). The air handler system is often located in a garage, attic, utility closet, or a crawl space and has copper piping that connects to the condensing unit. The condensing unit has a compressor that pushes refrigerant through copper linesets.
A Ductless Minisplit is a form of a heat pump that is used when ductwork (forced air) is not present and/or need to give heating and cooling through out the house/facility. They can come in different sizes due to whatever amount of heating or cooling is needed (BTU’s). You can identify these systems by wall mounted indoor units which have fans to move air and a coil which refrigerant moves through to conduct heating or cooling. There is also an outdoor unit involved with these systems that has a compressor in it which moves the refrigerant to the indoor unit(s).
The best way to keep a heat pump system happy and efficient is to set a temperature in the home that is comfortable for you, and leave it there. Just set it and forget it! Ductless mini-splits also have cleanable filters that can easily be raised out with water once every 3-4 months to keep the unit as clean as possible. If you want to know more about Heat pumps and mini-splits, give us a call!