Investigating the Features of a Goodman Heat Pump

At Budget Air Supply, we provide solutions for heating and cooling. It’s as simple as that. What isn’t simple are the unique set or circumstances that define your life and your living arrangements. Therefore, though our solution is simple, the problem of meeting the solution is not.

Any one given heating or cooling system has limited applicability. A small condenser might be all a southern home needs, and the heat strip that might come with it would be adequate in the winter.

However, a large home in the north might have nothing more than a need for a large dual stage furnace to keep things warm throughout a winter that might border on nine months.

The point is, whether your home needs a split system, a packaged unit, an air conditioning system, a furnace, a heat pump or otherwise, we make it possible.

Today, we’re going to take a close look at a Goodman heat pump; see how it works, and investigate the features of a given unit. Then we’ll take a look at some of the benefits and drawbacks of a heat pump in order to determine if it will make a match for your home.

Of course, the only way to know for sure is to get in touch with us, but we’ll give you some more information on that at the end of this article. First up - what is a heat pump, and how does it work?

How a Heat Pump Works

Heat pumps, as their name might suggest, work by moving heat energy between locations. That is to say, they pump heat in and out of a space. Taking a very high level view, a heat pump consolidates heat from inside your home in the summer and releases it outdoors, whereas in the winter, a heat pump gathers heat from the atmosphere, consolidates it, and pumps it indoors.

This makes heat pumps categorically more similar to air conditioning systems than they are to furnaces, since heat pumps and air conditioners both rely on condensers whereas furnaces rely on a combustible fuel to release heat.

Most air source heat pumps have two components that will make them somewhat similar in configuration to a classical split system, although they will not function in exactly the same way. The outdoor unit will have a condensing coil and a fan for circulating air, and the indoor unit has a coil and a fan for the same purposes.

Heat pumps also have a series of valves as a part of their unit construction, that allow for the expansion of refrigerant as well as the reversal of refrigerant through the lines, depending on whether condensed refrigerant is being moved indoors or outdoors.

In the summer, when it is hot inside your home and you want it to be cooler, the heat pump works accordingly. First, liquid refrigerant is moved to the coil that is inside the home. The heat in the air of your home will be absorbed by the refrigerant, which will evaporate into gaseous form, taking with it some energy from the hot air inside your home.

Then, the compressor compresses the refrigerant in the lines before it is sent to the outdoor coil, where it releases its heat energy into the air. During the process of releasing the energy, the refrigerant condenses back into liquid form and is sent back inside to repeat the process.

In the winter, the process is reversed; that is to say, the refrigerant is passed over the coils outside the home to absorb the energy in the air and consolidate it before circulating to the indoor coil where it can be released and sent throughout your home.

This is, of course, a very high level and un-technical view of how a heat pump works, so if you want to learn more, make sure you get in touch with a member of our team for specifics.

The Specs of a 5 Ton Goodman Heat Pump

Here at Budget Air Supply, we offer a number of different heap pumps in our lineup, both as parts of a split system and also as parts of a package unit. For the purposes of this investigation, we’re going to look at the Goodman 5 Ton 14 Seer Heat Pump Split System, specifically at the ARUF61D14 that comes as a part of it.

This Goodman heat pump offers a great deal of heating and cooling capacity, which shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise since it is rated to handle up to 5 tons of air. On that note, it is capable of providing 60,000 BTUs of power, both in heating and cooling applications.

The indoor unit that comes with this setup comes with a 5 speed ECM X13 blower motor and the SmartFrame Air Handler that comes with it is compatible with either R-410A or R-22 refrigerant, which is an added bonus.

As to the specifications of the overall unit, this system is designed with a number of features that not only enhance its usage, operation and efficiency, but that also make it a lot tougher as a whole.

On the note of efficiency and operation, this unit has a direct-drive multi-speed PSC motor and is capable of providing for upflow, downflow and two way horizontal flow, depending on the needs of your specific situation. It also bears noting on this front that the indoor unit doesn’t have a massive footprint. It’s pretty tall, at 58 inches, or just under 5 feet, but it’s also shy of two feet by two feet in width and depth.

It also comes with an all aluminum evaporator coil as well as a coil mounting track so that you can quickly and easily position or reposition the orientation of the coil. It also has a filter rack for a 1 inch filter that can be accessed without tools, streamlining its ease of use.

On the grounds of its durability, this entire indoor unit is housed within a rigid SmartFrame Cabinet that is tough as nails and protects the internals admirably. The cabinet also houses no screws in the sides and back that would harber and encourage the production of condensation that would not only be a nuisance in your home but would also give rust a place to work itself in.

At the same time, the insulation retention inside of the cabinet is glueless, which simplifies things, and the insulation itself is foil faced to protect the insulation from absorbing moisture or condensation. The insulation itself has another benefit on top of the obvious - it keeps noise to a minimum, and this unit is not just known for energy efficient properties. It also is not particularly loud to begin with.

The entire cabinet is galvanized not only to strengthen it but to give it an added measure of resilience in the ugly faces of moisture and corrosion. Not just a powerful unit, but with a number of features to suit it uniquely to stand strong against age and the elements, this is a heat pump that will serve you admirably through many seasons. The only thing that really remains is to determine whether or not a heat pump is a good match for your home.

Benefits of a Heat Pump

While heat pumps tend to be very expensive to buy and install, they come with a number of benefits that can make a big difference to you over the course of a lifetime. In the first place, they are fairly efficient to operate, and can save you in operation costs over the lifetime of the unit. That is to say, if you compare a heat pump alongside an air conditioner or a furnace, then you’re probably going to save on energy costs throughout the year. Over several years, that can add up, justifying the cost of a heat pump.

Continuing along on that note, heat pumps have a long lifespan and generally don’t require a lot of maintenance, which is another way they help to keep costs down over the course of a lifetime. They need to be checked out periodically, but in general, they require less maintenance than other systems, and specifically less than furnaces.

On the note of lifespan, you can expect some heat pumps to last for more than 10 years, and in a lot of ways, even that is a low estimate. There are many other specialists out there who will claim that heat pumps will last much, much longer than that. If you want a professional estimation of one of the models that we sell as well as how long it should last, get in touch with us.

Then, there is the fact that a heat pump system like the one we have detailed in this article will provide a solution not only for heating but for cooling as well, meaning it will suit you throughout all of the seasons of the year.

Drawbacks of a Heat Pump

Heat pumps are not all sunshine and rainbows, however. As you might have noticed, they are very expensive up front, which turns some people off to the idea of buying and then installing one, despite the promise of energy savings down the line.

In addition to the high expense of purchase and installation, setting up the system itself will probably take a lot of work from a professional, which can add to the cost of the affair. And, although we previously mentioned that they generally do not require a lot of maintenance, the fact remains that the system can be fairly “invasive” in some settings. That is to say, it can involve a lot of work to your home.

In truth, beyond these mostly simple considerations, there are no other broad drawbacks to a heat pump. There might be some specific conditions you need to take into account, but overall, the costs of purchase and installation and the involvement of installation constitute most of the trepidation out there.

So What’s Next

Now that you are a burgeoning expert on the principles of operation behind a heat pump, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of most systems, all you need to do is research some units, get a better understanding of the layout of your home and its uses in energy, and determine whether or not a heat pump like a Goodman heat pump is right for your home.

The first way to go about this is to get in touch with a member of our team, where we will learn more about your home’s setup, your energy uses, and your climate and location in the country. Then we can make a more information recommendation based on those inputs. A heat pump might not be a good match for every setting, and that’s something we can help you uncover.

After that, you’ll still need to find the right system, get it shipped to your home, and then get it installed. We can help with that too. Our customer service isn’t just about getting you the information you need. We put our money where our mouth is, and that means getting you the best prices around on heating and cooling solutions, heat pumps included.

Our price match guarantee all but ensures that you will get the lowest price on whatever unit you decide to go with, and on top of that, we offer free shipping as well. Now would be the time to mention that our free shipping is also ludicrously fast. Don’t worry about how we do it - that’s our gift to you.

We don’t leave you out in the dark without installation either, and our installation network around the country can help streamline the process of getting a new unit installed and operational. A heat pump may require a careful and extensive installation, but we’ll assist with the process nonetheless.

All of this comes together to define our commitment to customer satisfaction, and the first step to seeing for yourself is getting in touch with us. You’re already on our website, so take a look through our collection of Goodman and Rheem products today, and if you have product specific questions, by all means, call us at 855-47