What do SEER and HSPF really mean?
If you buy a heat pump with a SEER of 14.5 and HSPF of 7.5, it means you will get 14.5 BTUH (a measurement of heat energy) of cooling for every watt-hour of electric energy and 7.5 BTUH of heating for every watt-hour of electric energy. Since you buy electricity by kWh (1000 watt-hours) you can say that you get 14,500 BTUH of cooling per kWh and 7,500 BTUH of heating per kWh. Newer heat pumps and air conditioners are more than twice as efficient as older models. So when you replace an old heat pump with a new one, your savings go on all year. Capacity: How big a system is needed? A common mistake made in choosing any heating and cooling system is installing a system that is too big. Partly to blame for this is the old slogan, “If a little will do a little good, a lot will do a lot of good.” Also, partly to blame are installers who are not sure what size is needed, so they oversize to make sure. When a unit is improperly sized, the first thing lost is comfort. When an air conditioner is
