Using a heat pump can be one of the most efficient ways to cool and heat your house. In cooling mode, it works like an air conditioner, extracting heat from the air inside and releasing it outside. In heating mode it does the opposite, extracting whatever heat is present in outside air (even cold outside air) and moving it inside to heat your house.
Though they use electricity, heat pumps use it more efficiently than electric baseboard heat and don’t require direct consumption of fossil fuels like oil or natural gas. Depending on such factors as where you live and the cost of electricity, a heat pump may also save you money compared with other heating and air conditioning systems. But heat pumps aren’t trouble-free, as we learned from surveys of our members who installed 10,158 of them between 2007 and 2023.
