How Do Heat Pumps Work?

Understand How A Heat Pump Works

For climates with moderate cooling and heating needs such as Lucia, NC, a heat pump can offer an efficient alternative environmental control. In much the same way as a refrigerator removes the unwanted heat that accumulates when its door is opened, a heat pump takes heat that is available in the outdoor air during the winter and delivers it inside the home to keep you comfortably warm.

In the summertime, the process reverses. The heat pump extracts heat out of the indoor air and pushes it outside to keep the home cool. A liquid refrigerant circulates between the indoor and outdoor unit, absorbing and releasing heat as it goes through the loop.

A heat pump has two parts. An indoor unit called an air handler that is similar in looks to a gas furnace. It also has an outdoor unit that looks like a central air conditioner and contains the compressor. The compressor is the heart of the system, whether the heat pump is cooling or heating, because this is the mechanisms that circulates the refrigerant through the loop.

Explore The Difference Between Air, Geothermal, And Water Source Heat Pumps

There are three kinds of heat pumps: air source, geothermal, and water source. An air source heat pump is described above. If the unit is a geothermal heat pump, it uses the energy from the ground instead of using the surrounding air. And, as you might have guessed, a water source model uses water, either a pond, a lake, or the ocean, as an energy source.

The most basic difference between these three energy sources is the temperature of the heat source and, correspondingly, the temperature of the heat delivered. The greater the difference, the less efficient the unit is.

Choose The Most Economical Option For Your Home

The fact that heat pumps only have to move heat, not create it, makes them an economical option for home heating. The source of energy—air, geothermal, or water—determines how much power input a heat pump requires and forms the basis for the advantage in efficiency that geothermal heat pumps have over air-source heat pumps.

Bottom line? Geothermal & air-source heat pumps can help you reduce your Lucia, NC heat bill, save on preventative maintenance, and reduce your carbon footprint by saving more energy.