What makes Heat Pumps more popular?
We all want our family to feel comfortable in the house, especially on cold winter days and sweating summertime. With the rise of demand for heating and cooling appliances, there are more and more options to choose from.
Gas heaters used to be the go-to choice for homeowners due to their low installation cost and ease of use. However, over the years, electricity-use appliances like heat pumps have become more and more popular and are now trusted by 75% of Kiwis homes including lots and lots of Dunedin households.
In this article, we will look into the reasons why a heat pump is a better option for your house. So if you are looking for your next heaters, you would have an idea of what to choose. And if you are still using gas heaters, it’s time to switch!
How do they work?
Gas Heaters
Simply put, gas heaters burn gas to generate heat. But burning gas does not produce only heat but also air pollutants like nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and water vapour. The common gas heaters in the market usually come with a flue pipe to direct these pollutants outside the house and only keep the heat in the room. However, they make the heater less efficient.
Heat pumps
Heat pumps, on the other hand, extract heat from the outside air and bring them into the house. Heat pumps have a system of pipes containing refrigerant, which constantly get expanded and compressed. When the refrigerant is being compressed, it becomes hot.
The outdoors unit of the heat pump will compress the air and transfer it into the indoor unit through a series of coils. Heat pumps shift more heat than the electrical energy consumed in compressing the refrigerant and running the fans, making them highly-efficient methods of heating – up to 3 times as much in the right conditions.
What are the pros and cons of gas heaters?
Pros
- Gas heaters can heat up the room relatively fast. The room temperature can increase by 5 Celsius degrees in about 5 minutes
- The temperature is even across the room with only 1 Celsius degree difference between the warmest and coldest areas of the room
- Buying and installing gas heaters is easy, so the investment cost is cheaper than other options
Cons
- Gas heaters might present some potential health hazards when not used and maintained the right way
- The long-term cost can be higher than other options, as the price of gas will keep increasing
- The supplies are unpredictable as the use of gas tend to be replaced by more eco-friendly resources
Gas and Oil used heater are becoming less popular choice for Kiwis
Why is a heat pump a better choice?
Gas heaters come with certain pros and cons, and so do heat pumps. Heat pumps, like anything else, also have their own disadvantages. Heat pumps tend to be less effective on extremely cold days. They take more space both inside and outside your house and their initial costs are higher.
So you can see that heat pumps are not the ultimately perfect option, but we still believe that they are a better option than gas heaters and arguably one of the best options available now if you only need a basic heating and cooling system that works effectively and efficiently. And here are the reasons why:
Heat pump is the most efficient way to heat your house
With the same amount of cost used for gas, electric heat pumps can produce much more heat for your house. As electric heat pumps compress air to make the room warmer, there is no waste of energy to burn materials.
On average, heat pumps cost less than 20c per unit (kWh) of heat generated. Modern heat pumps have Coefficients of Performance (COP) and Energy Efficiency Ratios (EER) of 4.5 and more which means for every kWh of electricity they use they will produce 4.5kWh of heat (COP) or coolness (EER). All heat pumps sold in New Zealand must also meet Minimum Energy Performance Standards.
Heat pump is much safer than gas heaters
As mentioned, there are always some potential risks of gas leaking and air pollutants when using gas heaters. Heat pumps do not have this issue as they run on electricity, so they are generally safer.
Moreover, depending on models, heat pumps also come with extra features to improve the quality of air going into the room. Most heat pumps have an air filter to stop dust and pollen from entering the living space. More modern models can also adjust the humidity of the room to make it even more comfortable for you and your family.
Heat pump is a more sustainable choice
One of the main reasons why we believe that you should switch to heat pumps if you are using gas heaters is because they are more sustainable.
In terms of environmental sustainability, electric heat pumps still contribute to the greenhouse effect and carbon emissions when overusing. However, generally speaking, they are much cleaner and produce fewer pollutants to the environment.
There is another type of sustainability we want to talk about: the sustainability for you, the user. As we said, gas is not a renewable resource, so it will likely be used less and less in the future. This means that the supplies will be shorter and the price will be higher. So using gas heaters then will not be as convenient and cheap as it is right now.
Conclusion
It can’t be denied that gas heaters once used to be Kiwi’s favourite heating device because they are easy to use and cheap to run. However, as technologies rise, heat pumps have become a better option for long term saving and the safety of you and your family.
