How Heat Pumps Work

Heat pumps may seem like miracle devices when they produce warm or cool air that helps you feel comfortable. The technology, however, provides a straightforward design that makes it not a miracle but a highly effective unit. The process becomes less magical when you realize the simplicity of what a heat pump does. Its entire reason for existing simply requires moving air from inside your home to the outside. When you consider the simplicity of the equipment, you can see why it costs less to operate than a traditional HVAC system.

Learning the Functions of the System Components

Whether winter or summer, a heat pump moves the hot or cold air out of your home and replaces it with the warmth or cooling that you prefer. Bringing the outside air inside eliminates the undesirable aspects of HVAC systems that run on fossil fuel.

Surprisingly, a heat pump has only two main components: an indoor unit and an outdoor unit. The indoor unit sometimes goes by the name of "air handler" to describe how it distributes hot or cold air. The outdoor unit produces the heated or cooled air that the handler distributes. Between the two of them, they contain the elements that perform specific functions. Still, the simplicity of the system makes it perform efficiently and cost less to run.

Outdoor Unit/Heat Pump
The outdoor unit (also called "heat pump") that works to produce the air temperature you prefer includes the system's electrical components and major pieces of equipment. The condensing coil, compressor, defrost control, fan, motor, and reversing valve reside inside the outdoor unit.

Indoor Unit/Air Handler
A blower, evaporator, filter, and heat exchanger in the indoor unit (also called "air handler") allow a heat pump to provide the comfortable interior air quality that you prefer.

Understanding What Makes It Work

The beauty of the heat pump system that makes it so practical, efficient and economical rests on its ability to adapt to different weather conditions. It can act like an air conditioner, but it can also do much more.

Heating
A heat pump uses a minimal amount of electricity to relocate heat from one space to another. A refrigeration coolant makes the process function in both warm and cold weather, amazingly. When the temperatures fall in the winter months, the heat pump gathers the heat from the outside and conveys it to the coolant fluid.

While the temperature may not seem to you to have any heat in it, the fact remains that it does. The heat pump can extract the heat and use it to warm your home. The process relies on the compression of the coolant to transfer heat to your home's interior spaces, where the indoor unit (air handler) puts it where you want it.

Cooling
A heat pump can reverse its ability when the temperatures rise in the warm summer months. While acting as an air conditioner, it can cool your home. The flexibility to provide cool when you prefer it occurs by replacing the warm air inside with cool air from outside. Again, the outdoors may not feel cool to you, but the heat pump can use the outdoor air to cool your home.

Deciding to Switch to a Heat Pump

Even though its name seems to favor one method of managing your indoor air, a heat pump does much more than provide heating for your home. In a single unit, it provides air conditioning as well as humidity control. In an economical and practical approach, the same unit can provide both functions.

Many reasons support switching to a heat pump. Canadians and people around the world have used the technology for decades, and it has proven its worth and reliability.

The traditional methods of furnaces and boilers that you may have used to add heat to your air cannot compare to the energy efficiency and economy of heat pumps. The combustion of fossil fuels to power them and the impact on the environment can be avoided with newer technology. Typical HVAC systems provide single-purpose air conditioners that can do nothing but cool. It includes an environmental impact as well.

Counting the Benefits

With a different approach that promotes energy efficiency and protection of the planet, heat pumps use electricity sparingly. By using it solely for the purpose of transferring thermal energy from one location to another, it multiplies the efficiency by up to 100 percent. When you can get more energy than the amount required to produce it in the first place, it seems wise to switch to heat pumps.

Energy Use
When you decide to upgrade your heating and cooling equipment, it may help to consider the difference between a heat pump and traditional HVAC systems. Most importantly, a heat pump does not generate heat, no matter how much the name makes you think it does. Instead, it moves heat from locations that do not need it to the spaces that do.

Utility Bills
The enormous shift in energy usage means a significant reduction in your utility bills. A heat pump uses only a minimal amount of energy to power its compressor, fans, and pump. The savings that occur from not using energy to heat a home can make a big difference in an energy budget.

Efficiency
The high-performance capability of heat pumps reduces your energy consumption and helps preserve the planet. With settings that can produce precise temperatures for your comfort, the equipment prevents waste and unnecessary expense. Even in Canada's temperatures fall below freezing, specially designed heat pumps can handle them.

Choosing a Perfect Match

With three designs of heat pumps on the market, buyers can choose air source, geothermal or split-ductless. Professional installation ensures the selection of the proper size for specific locations. Mitsubishi engineers developed a process that allows the refrigerant to flow even in extreme cold.

Built-in green technology enhances the operating efficiency of the highest quality equipment requires no backup system. Ductless designs increase owner options and offer opportunities to enjoy heated or cooled air with minimal installation time.

Heat pumps offer Canadians better access to temperature control and energy management that respects the environment.

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If you're looking for a reliable and long-lasting heat pump, contact HeatPumps.ca. Our track record of faithful operation and longevity is a testament to our commitment to quality. Additionally, be sure to check out our heat pump rebates and incentives to save even more money.