Before you know it, Austin will be in the throes of winter. While a local winter might not be as harsh as a northern winter, there’s always a chance that frigid, snowy weather could visit this area. That’s why it’s important to understand your heating options so that you can choose the best one for your home. By planning ahead, you’ll be warm and cozy inside your home even if there’s a freak snowstorm outside. Here are a few heating options that come highly recommended by Totally Cool Heating & Air.
Air-Source Heat Pump
Thanks to the mild Texas winters, an air-source heat pump makes a great option to heat your home this winter. These machines pump heat out of the air and send it into your home using refrigerant in a long metal tube. Since the heat energy is simply being moved from one place to another, a heat pump uses less electricity than other furnaces. If you opt for an air-source heat pump, it’s especially important that you keep your air filter clean so that the refrigerant remains at the correct temperature to continue cycling heat into your home.
Ground-Source Heat Pump
For homeowners needing greater efficiency than an air-source heat pump can provide, a ground-source heat pump from Totally Cool Heating & Air is the gold standard of efficiency when it comes to heating your home. Using long refrigerant tubes buried on your property, a ground-source heat pump pulls heat from the ground.
Even better is that a ground-source heat pump can also expel heat from your home during the summer, meaning you can enjoy exceptional comfort and efficiency year-round. Although these systems are more expensive to install upfront, they provide significant savings over time.
Ductless Furnace
If you’re looking to heat a specific area in your home, a ductless heat pump is worth looking into. Rather than using a duct to distribute conditioned air throughout your home, a ductless heat pump deposits its air in the same room in which it is installed.
While a ductless heat pump can’t heat an entire home, it does an excellent job at keeping specific rooms comfortable. Plus, since a ductless system is much smaller than a typical HVAC system, its operating costs are much lower. If you have a garage, a mother-in-law suite, or another separate space in your home, don’t overlook this option.
Conventional Furnace
For many people, the best option is still a conventional furnace. Newer furnaces from Totally Cool Heating & Air tend to be far more efficient than furnaces built even just a decade ago. Gas furnaces offer the advantage of quick heat and generally lower operating costs thanks to the low price of natural gas.
Electric furnaces, on the other hand, use energy far more efficiently than a gas furnace and tend to be less expensive to purchase and to install. You can also opt for a hybrid furnace that uses both types of fuel to provide an efficient and effective heating system.
Space Heater
Although a space heater isn’t the most efficient way to heat a home, there’s nothing quite like the extra heat these devices provide to help keep you warm on especially cold days. Rather than paying to have a heating system installed in your home, you can obtain a decent space heater for just a few dollars.
As long as you observe the proper precautions to avoid fires and circuit overloads, a space heater can provide quick heat to help keep your feet warm or to knock off the chill in an especially cold room. If you only need to heat a small space, a space heater may actually be more efficient than other heating options thanks to its comparatively low energy usage.
Understanding Your Needs
At Totally Cool Heating & Air, we take pride in helping our customers think through their heating system options so that they can find solutions that fit within their budgets and that provide superb comfort at all times. Whether we’re maintaining, repairing, or replacing your furnace or air conditioner, you can be sure that we’ll never oversell you on something that you don’t need.
This commitment applies to our other services, as well, including duct cleaning and sealing, attic insulation installation, and more. Serving Austin for over 35 years and receiving countless five-star reviews along the way, you can count on us to keep your home comfortable. To learn more about your heating options, contact us at Totally Cool Heating & Air today.
