If you’re in the market for a new heating system, there are some puzzling abbreviations and numbers that might confuse you. Well here are the explanations of these terms, so you can feel more confident when choosing your heating system. If you’re considering purchasing a heat pump you’re going to see a few numbers. There is going to be a SEER rating, which is 13+, and also a HSPF rating that ranges from 8-10. The SEER measures the cooling efficiency of the heat pump. The HSPF (Heating Seasonal Performance Factor) measures the heating efficiency of a heat pump. This number is calculated by the ratio of heat output to electricity use on an average heating system. To simplify it, the higher the HSPF, the more energy efficient the system heats your home.
If you’ve been researching furnaces you’ll notice they measure the efficiency differently than a heat pump. A furnace’s efficiency is measured using AFUE, which stands for Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency. This is a measure of a gas furnace’s efficiency in converting fuel to energy, by projecting the average thermal efficiency for a complete heating system. Again like the HSPF rating, the higher the number, the more efficient it is. AFUE is a percentage, and mostly ranges from 80% to 98%.
