Ductless heat pumps ideal for sunrooms, enclosed patios

If you’ve recently added a sunroom addition to your home, or enclosed a patio and want to make these areas into comfortable four-season rooms, a ductless heat pump may be the optimum solution.

Tom Eppers, co-owner, Dowe & Wagner, a heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning company serving residential and commercial customers in Illinois and Wisconsin, explains that ductless heat pumps, also called “duct-free mini splits,” can keep those rooms warm in the winter and cool in the summer, without needing new ductwork.

“The heat pump can be mounted on the wall. In the winter, it works as an air conditioner in reverse. The flow of refrigerant can reverse to return warm air inside the room, instead of outside.”

Eppers adds that innovations within the past five years have made these systems more efficient. Heat pumps can also be adjusted with remote controls and smart phone apps, to provide customizable heating and cooling.

EnergyStar.gov notes that since these systems transfer, instead of generate heat, they use 60 percent less energy than standard home electric resistance-based heating systems, and 30 percent less than conventional room air conditioners. Refrigerant lines connect an indoor unit to an outdoor unit.

“Used for decades in Europe and Asia, ductless heat pumps differ from traditional home heating and cooling systems, by providing both heating and cooling through a single heat pump device,” explains EnergyStar. They’re helpful for older homes and commercial buildings with no existing ductwork.

Previously, heat pumps were not ideal in colder climates, since dropping temperatures meant the heat pump had to work harder to extract heat from the outdoor air, EnergyStar says. However, some heat pumps now use advanced compressors and refrigerants that allow for improved low temperature performance.

Dowe & Wagner : 11215 Commercial Street, Richmond, IL 60071 : 815.678.3000 : http://doweandwagner.com/