Is the efficiency rating actual or just a manufacturer’s average?
All types of heating and cooling systems have a rated efficiency. Fossil fuel furnaces have a percentage of efficiency rating. Natural gas, propane and fuel oil furnaces have efficiency ratings based on laboratory conditions. To get an accurate installed efficiency rating, factors such as flue gas heat losses, cycling losses caused by over sizing, blower fan electrical usage, etc., must be included. Geothermal heat pumps, as well as all other types of heat pumps, have efficiencies rated according to their coefficient of performance or COP. It’s a scientific way of determining how much energy the system produces versus how much it uses. Most geothermal heat pump systems have COPs of 2.5 – 3.5. That means for every one unit of energy used to power the system, two and one-half to three and one-half units are supplied as heat. Where a fossil fuel furnace may be 50-90 percent efficient, a geothermal heat pump is about 300 percent efficient. Some geothermal heat pump manufacturers and electr
