Consider these 8 factors:

1. Repair or Replace

There are many good reasons to buy a heat pump and any one of those reasons may be motivating you to purchase one. However, if you are shopping for heat pumps because you have a furnace or air conditioner that you suspect will soon need to be replaced, it is a good idea to have the old system evaluated. A qualified professional can examine and test your system, and weigh the cost of repairing it against the costs of replacing it, taking into account variables like different costs of energy to run the old and new systems.

Want to receive free estimates for installing a heat pump?

We have partnered with QualitySmith in order to allow our visitors to receive free, no obligation project quotes from qualified local contractors.  QualitySmith is a free, well regarded contractor referral service.

Click here to receive 3 free, no obligation quotes for installing a heat pump.

2. Brand

When it comes to purchasing heat pumps there are a wide variety of brand choices. The most popular heat pumps are brands that may be familiar to you from the furnace, air conditioning or water heater markets: Trane, Carrier, Goodman, Lennox and York. There are also well known appliance brands like Amana, Frigidaire, and GE. Finally, there are a many brands of heat pumps that may be new to you, but they may have a great reputation for reliability or innovation among the professionals who install heat pumps. A number of heat pump companies will not sell directly to the public, as they believe that only a trained service professional can properly and safely install their heat pumps.

3. Get Help or Do it Yourself?

If you're looking for a satisfying weekend project to do around your home, try painting the rec room. However, unless you are a HVAC professional, we recommend that you do not try to install a heat pump yourself. Heat pumps are difficult to install, will not work properly unless installed and adjusted correctly, and "beginner's mistakes" can be dangerous to you and your household. We do recommend that you learn as much as you can about the project and products. By reading this article and learning more about heat pumps, you will be better able to: Interview and hire the service professional for the job. Provide input into selecting the heat pump to be purchased. Make key decisions about the features that are important to you. More effectively monitor the professional's progress on the project.

4. Heat Sources

Air Source Heat Pumps: The most popular heat source for heat pumps is air. Air source heat pumps generally function well in moderate climates, and become less efficient as the temperature drops. Most air source heat pumps will not be able to provide heat to a home once the outside temperature falls below 30 degrees (F). If you live in an area where temperatures fall below 30 degrees (F), you will need to use a supplemental heat source to heat your home when it is too cold for the air source heat pump to function. Geothermal Heat Pumps: Geothermal heat pumps circulate refrigerant or water through pipes that are buried in the ground. Because of the added expense of drilling or digging to bury the pipes, these are the most expensive heat pumps to install. Water Source Heat Pumps: Water can be used as a heat source, but there are some challenges associated with this source. First, unlike geothermal or even air, in many regions rivers and lakes can get cold in the winter and stay cold, so their value as a heat source is becomes limited. For those of you who live by an ocean, oceans maintain a warmer temperature in that winter than do lakes and rivers, but there are challenges relating to the corrosive effects of salt water on your heat pump. Also, water source heat pumps using the ocean need to have the source unit submerged to a depth of 75-150 feet (25-50 meters) to access water of optimal temperature. Because of the challenges of using ocean water as a heat source, it is generally only used for very large homes or commercial buildings.

5. Power Sources

Electricity: Heat pumps use electricity to power the compressors, motors, and fans. By far, the most common way heat pump owners get this electricity is to buy it from their power companies. Solar Power and Heat Pumps: Many heat pump users are concerned with conserving energy, and a small percentage of heat pump users have begun using solar energy to provide some or all of the electricity to power the heat pump. If you would like to explore this option, and reduce your electric bill even further, talk to a qualified professional about installing solar panels and cells to work with your heat pump. Dual-Fuel: If you live in an area where the environmental conditions will not make it possible for a heat pump to meet all of your heating needs but you still want to install a heat pump, you will need to install a dual-fuel system. A dual-fuel system is typically an electric heat pump and a natural gas furnace in one package. By combining both systems, you get the benefits of each in a system that is designed to give you optimal performance and energy savings.

6. Sizing a Heat Pump System

All major heat pump manufacturers produce heat pumps in a number of sizes or capacities to meet the needs of different homes. The capacity of heat pumps, as it is with air conditioners, is designated by "tons". Tons is a unit of measurement for determining cooling capacity, with one ton equal to 12,000 Btuh. Older homes generally require approximately one ton of capacity for every 400 square feet. So a 2,000 square foot home would require a 5 ton heat pump. A newer home that is well insulated can use a smaller capacity heat pump than an older house of comparable size. If your system is too small, it will operate inefficiently and it will not be able to heat or cool your home to your satisfaction. If the capacity of your heat pump is too large for you home, it will waste energy and it will not properly control your home's humidity. For all of these reasons, homeowners should work with a qualified professional to calculate the capacity of heat pump that is required by their home.

7. Heat Pump Ratings and Measurements

Residential heat pumps are sold with an attached EnergyGuide Label, which provides a rating of the heat pump?s efficiency for both cooling and heating. HSPF: A heat pump?s heating efficiency is rated with the Heating Season Performance Factor (HSPF), which takes the system's seasonal heating output in Btus and divides it by the seasonal power consumptions in watts. So, HSPF measures how much heat the heat pump will produce in one season when one season's worth of energy is run the system. The most efficient heat pumps have an HSPF rating of between of 8 and 10. Experts often recommend that today's buyer look for a minimum HSPF rating of 7 and optimally for the pump to be rated over 7.7 HSPF. SEER: The cooling efficiency is rated using the Seasonal Energy Ratio (SEER). The most efficient heat pumps available today have SEER ratings between 14 and 18. If you replace an older central air conditioning system with a SEER rating of 7 with a new heat pump with a SEER rating of 14, you will have to purchase only half of much electricity to produce the same cooling effect from the heat pump as you did from your old unit. ENERGY STAR: ENERGY STAR is the "seal of approval" from the United States Government's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for products that save energy and are environmentally friendly. The EPA awards the ENERGY STAR label to heat pumps with HSPF ratings of 7 or higher and SEER ratings of 12 or higher. Look for the ENERGY STAR label and you'll be insured you're getting an energy efficient product that will keep your energy bills relatively low and be environmentally friendly.

8. Cost

Heat pumps, whether air source or geothermal, tend to be more expensive to purchase than furnaces and air conditioners. However, the real cost of heating and cooling your home needs to factor in not only the cost of the appliance, but also the energy consumption over the life of the unit, the cost to install the unit, and maintenance. There are benefits provided by heat pumps that can't be priced: more uniform heating and cooling with fewer hot and cold spots, more comfortable humidity, cleaner air with fewer allergens, and less damage to the environment. These ?comfort benefits? may also contribute to your willingness to pay the relatively higher price required to purchase a heat pump.