Napoleon - Maine Air Conditioner Dealer Frost & Flame has been the trusted name in home heating for the past 37 years. So when we decided to add home cooling to our product lines, we chose Napoleon Air Conditioner/Heat Pumps as our partner to best serve you our customers. So why Napoleon Air Conditioners? Cooling isn’t the only function of an air conditioner. As we spend a lot of our free time in our homes, our research shows that Napoleon really works to make it a comfortable haven. Their line of air conditioner/heat pumps brings balance to your home to never leave you too hot, or too cold but comfortable and refreshed. Napoleon leads the way with new, innovative technology and continuously surpasses industry standards. Central air or ductless air conditioner/heat pump? What best for you? Let the Frost & Flame experts ask you the right questions and help you decide based on your needs. Then owner Steve Richard himself comes to your home to take all of the measurements.

You never have to worry about someone with limited experience showing up. Lastly, all installations are done only by our own expert installers – never by a subcontractor.york air conditioner parts diagram So why consider air conditioning/ heat pump?old window ac unit This is the ultimate home heating/cooling unit. size of outdoor ac unitThe single condensing unit cools and dehumidifies indoor air and by keeping your thermostat at a constant temperature, your air conditioner will keep those humid hot days, and every day, feel refreshing. Durability, energy efficiency, environmentally friendly features and high performance are the hallmark of the Napoleon name. Also, the heat pump is 30% cheaper than oil. So why a ductless air conditioner/heat pump?

A cost effective way to stay cool and warm during both seasons, Napoleon’s Ductless Air Conditioner/Heat Pumps are a brilliant alternative to custom installed cooling equipment.  With zone cooling, these units balance airflow until a desired temperature is reached and maintained to keep comfort and balance. With your choice of single zone, multi zone and energy efficient heat pump models you can select a unit perfect for your needs, keeping your costs low and efficiency high. Tired of your loud, inefficient air conditioner? New technology delivers quiet, super efficient air and heat with one unit and no duct work. Napoleon Air Conditioner/Heat Pumps are your answer! Frost & Flame, your Napoleon connection! Frost & Flame, the trusted name for over 37 years. Let us help you decide which type of air conditioner/heat pump is most effective for your home and most cost efficient for you. Stop in or call us today!Heating and cooling a house used to be separate jobs, but the heat pump, a device that does both, often at much lower cost, is gaining popularity.

Nearly one in three new American houses uses a heat pump, according to a recent Government estimate; in some parts of the country heat pumps are nearly universal in new houses. A heat pump is "nothing more than a glorified air-conditioner," said Robert M. Little Sr. of the residential marketing department at the Tampa Electric Company in Florida. It is glorified because it is reversible. In summer it acts very much like a central air-conditioner, with its condenser sucking in heat and ejecting it outdoors. In winter, it collects heat from outside and pushes it inside. People may wonder how a machine can draw heat from a cold place and put it in a warm one, but that is exactly what a regular air-conditioner does when it lowers the indoor temperature to 75 degrees and sends the heat into a 90-degree outdoors. An old-fashioned electric heater turns electricity into heat when its coils resist an electric current. When it is 50 degrees outside, a heat pump would use only a third as much power to warm the house to 68 degrees as would a resistance heater.

For example, Mr. Little said, a typical house in the Tampa area would use 6,000 kilowatt-hours for a year of resistance heat, but only 1,440 kilowatt-hours if it had a heat pump instead. Farther north, the difference grows smaller; north of Washington, it drops to near zero. Teaming Heat Pump and Furnace In the Washington area, some people use heat pumps on most winter days and conventional gas- or oil-fired systems for the coldest days, although the capital costs of this combination are higher. Jack Stevenson, manager of residential energy services at the Potomac Electric Power Company, described another case in which a house might have both. Some houses are too big for a single forced-air system because of the length of the ducts, he said. The solution favored by builders is to put a second system in the attic; a heat pump is preferred for safety reasons. In most parts of the country, the heat pump's main competitor for heating is a very high-efficiency gas burner. Heat pumps, which were introduced 30 years ago, have generated some complaints, especially the early models.

They can be noisy, can create drafts and can fail to remove humidity. Recent changes have reduced those problems and lowered operating costs. Still, heat pumps are limited by climate. Their biggest drawback is that as outdoor temperatures go down, it takes more and more electricity to gather enough heat to help indoors. Below 30 degrees Fahrenheit, a heat pump usually needs help from a resistance heater, and below 15 degrees the heat pump will be nearly useless. In addition, when the outdoor temperature is below freezing, moisture in the air will form ice on the heat pump coils, somewhat as ice forms on the cooling surfaces inside an old-fashioned refrigerator-freezer, reducing efficiency. Heat pumps solve the problem by heating the coils, which also reduces efficiency. Millions of houses use resistance heaters, but they are generally far more expensive to operate than the alternatives: natural gas, heating oil or propane. The amount of electricity a heat pump uses is crucial because installing one can cost 10 to 25 percent more than installing an electric air-conditioner and a conventional gas furnace.

According to the Department of Energy, in areas where the temperature often falls below 25 degrees a heat pump would require so much supplemental resistance heat that it might not make sense. In places where heat pumps are economical, electric companies are usually eager to see them installed, so the local power company is a good place for a homeowner to start inquiring. Many utilities will estimate the size of the heat pump needed and calculate the operating cost. But the installation is usually done by the homeowner's contractor. To encourage efficiency in electricity use, some utilities offer rebates to people who install heat pumps. Carolina Power & Light, for example, will lend its customers money to buy heat pumps and, for particularly efficient models, will lower the interest rate. Carolina Power and other utilities have found it is cheaper to subsidize the purchase of efficient appliances than to build new power plants to supply inefficient ones. The efficiency of a heat pump -- that is, the amount of temperature change it produces per unit of electricity consumed -- varies with the outdoor temperature and the desired indoor temperature.

The Government requires heat pumps to be labeled using a standard called the seasonal energy efficiency ratio, a measurement that combines the efficiency ratings under all conditions. (A related measure, the energy efficiency ratio, is used for conventional air-conditioners.) Check with your electric company before buying from a private contractor; many utilities pay rebates if the heat pump meets a minimum standard of efficiency. New heat pump designs are far more efficient than old ones. One reason is that most are designed to run at variable speed to keep the indoor temperature at the desired level, while conventional air-conditioners or furnaces run for a while to get the house to the proper temperature, and then shut off until the temperature drifts out of the desired range. Continuous operation means greater efficiency and eliminates a characteristic that many homeowners have found objectionable, a blast of cold air from the ducts on start-up. At Carolina Power and elsewhere, heat pump experts stress that to work right, a heat pump system has to be well thought out.

Houses with forced-air heating that use natural gas are not always good candidates for conversion because the existing hot air system blows air heated to 120 degrees or so. A heat pump may produce only 90 or 100 degrees, so it will have to move more air through the ducts at higher speed, which can cause howling. Newer heat pumps are designed to produce higher-temperature air, which can also be critical. In winter, air at less than body temperature can create a draft that feels cold, even if it is warm enough to raise the room temperature to the desired level. Another critical problem is size. If the heat pump is too big, it will not have to work very hard to cool the house, but this has a drawback. Humidity is removed from the air when it passes over a cold coil, but if the system is too big it will lower the temperature before all the air has had a chance to go through the coil, leaving the house cool but clammy. Photo: Photo: Jason Mills, left, and Gerald Scott install a heat pump.