Allentown, PA enjoys some wonderfully mild summers, with typical\u00a0summertime temperatures\u00a0<\/u>climbing only into the\u00a0mid-80s. A homeowner may wonder how appropriate a heat pump is in this type of climate. Rather than fight the fierce scorching temperatures our southern and southwestern neighbors suffer, we in the Lehigh Valley area can enjoy cool comfort and high efficiency with heat pumps.<\/p>\n
Read on to find out if a heat pump is right for your air conditioner, or contact Jack Lehr Heating, Cooling & Electric<\/a> for a consultation!<\/p>\n To better understand the effectiveness of a heat pump in acting to cool your Lehigh Valley home, you need to understand how environmental engineers measure cooling degree days (CDDs). The helpful folks at the\u00a0National Weather Service<\/a>\u00a0explain it simply: take the day\u2019s high and low, find the average temperature for the day, and subtract 65. Here is a simplified example:<\/p>\n The fewer the\u00a0CDDs\u00a0for any given time\u2014week, month or season\u2014the less you will spend on electricity to cool your home.<\/p>\n The Lehigh Valley does not bake under summer sun the way, for example, Death Valley does. We only have around\u00a0780\u00a0CDDs\u00a0a year<\/a>, with high peaks in July and August. (Death Valley, by contrast, has around 5,400\u00a0CDDs\u00a0annually.) To\u00a0keep your family cool, you have three choices, in order from least energy efficient to most:<\/p>\n A heat pump provides plenty of cooling power and the flexibility to provide heat later in the year.\u00a0Heat pumps\u00a0efficiently\u00a0transfer heat from one area to another, so in summer, they transfer heat from inside your home out to\u00a0the outdoor air. Even on hot days, the outside air has plenty of capacity to absorb more\u00a0heat as your heat pump efficiently gathers it from your home and forces it outside.<\/p>\n Heat pumps are more efficient at removing humidity from your Lehigh Valley home\u2019s air than central air conditioners. This means two important benefits:<\/p>\n How reliable are heat pumps, though, compared to central air conditioners? Heat pumps do not sit idle for four or five months, the way\u00a0central air conditioners do. This way, they cannot deteriorate from disuse or neglect, or build up mold and mildew inside their components. Installing a new heat pump<\/a> will provide heated, cooled, and treated air year-round.<\/p>\nHeat Pump Effectiveness in Cooling Degree Days<\/h2>\n
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Central Air Conditioning, Window Units, or a Heat Pump?<\/h2>\n
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Heat Pump Reliability<\/h2>\n
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Heat Pump Advice<\/h2>\n