What Is a Hybrid Heating System?

What Is a Hybrid Heating System?

Heat pumps are great systems for a number of reasons, one of the main ones being that a heat pump offers your home both heating and cooling. But there can be some concern about a heat pump’s ability to heat your home when the air temperature goes below freezing. One of the best ways to allay your concerns and continue to use a heat pump is to consider the installation of a hybrid heating system. A hybrid heating system uses a heat pump as its main source of heat, but has a gas furnace back-up for the very cold nights. To understand why you may want to consider a hybrid heating system, let’s first look at how a heat pump works.

Heat Pumps

A heat pump works by transferring heat from one location to another. Refrigerant helps facilitate this process. During the summer, the heat pumps absorbs the heat from your indoors and transfers it outside; during the winter, the heat pump absorbs the heat in the surrounding air, concentrates it, then distributes the heat to your living spaces. When the air temperature dips below 32 degrees, the amount of available heat in the air decreases, which can challenge your heat pump to provide the heating you need for your home; this is the main concern when using a heat pump as the sole means of heating your home. However, with a hybrid heating system, you don’t have to worry about losing heat when the air dips below the freezing point.

How a Hybrid System Works

In a hybrid system, your heat pump is equipped with a sensor that tells your heating system to switch to the back-up gas furnace at a set-point temperature. Typically, this set-point temperature is a few degrees above freezing. Once the outside air reaches the set-point temperature, your heating system automatically switches to the gas furnace. When the temperature rises above your set-point temperature, the system automatically switches back to the heat pump. With a hybrid heating system, you get the best of both worlds: the energy efficiency of a heat pump combined with the warm gas heat of a furnace when you need it.

If you have concerns that your heat pump may leave you chilly this winter, call Russell’s Heating and Air Conditioning today and schedule an appointment with one of our experts to see what a hybrid heating system in Yucaipa can do for you!