How a Heat Pump Works to Provide, Heating, Cooling and Other Benefits

A heat pump can cool your home during the summer months and warm it in winter. However, do you know how this HVAC solution works to provide both warm and cool air? Let’s take a look at the basics of how a heat pump works, the components that compose the system, and why a heat pump is a great investment for your Englewood, Florida, home.

Heat Pump Basics

One of the reasons a heat pump works well as a heater in mild climates is that it transfers heat energy from the outside air and delivers it to the inside. Florida’s winters are fairly mild. Therefore, there’s plenty of thermal heat energy in the outdoor air so that the heat pump can act as a heater to keep your home warm and cozy on those occasional cool nights.

During the summer, when you need cool air inside your home, the heat pump acts as an air conditioner. it pulls hot air from inside your home and expels it to the outside. This dual-system is handy, economical, and can help with energy savings and maintenance costs as there’s only one system to maintain. Because the heat pump doesn’t actually generate hot or cool air but merely transfers it from one place to the other, it uses much less electricity. As a result, it allows you to notice substantial savings on your energy bills.

The Refrigerant

Refrigerant is one of the most essential components of the heat pump system. When in cooling mode, the refrigerant absorbs heat from inside your home. Through a complex process, the system eventually expels it outside. When in warming mode, the heat pump works in reverse. The refrigerant absorbs heat from the outdoor air and, eventually, delivers warm air into your home. Having proper levels of refrigerant is essential. During the fall and spring when we perform maintenance on the heat pump system, we check the levels to ensure they’re correct.

The Compressor and Condenser Coil

A heat exchanger is where the transfer of hot or cool air takes place. One of the heat exchangers is the condenser coil. Located in the outside unit of the heat pump system are the compressor, condenser coil and blower fan. The compressor’s main function during the heating mode is to turn the refrigerant from its liquid state into a high-pressure gas where it then flows into the condenser coil heat exchanger. The refrigerant then gets heated further in the condenser coil and travels back into the inside unit of the system where the second heat exchanger, evaporator coil and blower fan sit.

When in cooling mode, the compressor takes the refrigerant which has absorbed the heat from inside your home and turns it into a hot, high-pressure gas. This flows into the condenser, and with the help of the blower fan, expels the heat to the outside.

The Evaporator Coil

The second heat exchanger is the evaporator coil, which sits inside the indoor unit in your home. In heating mode, the evaporator coil takes the warm refrigerant. With the help of the blower fan, it exchanges the warm air for the cool air inside of your house. As a result, it increases the temperature to a comfortable level.

When the heat pump system is in cooling mode, the refrigerant becomes very cold inside the evaporator coil and absorbs hot air from inside your home. The hot refrigerant then flows into the compressor and the condenser unit where the hot gas gets expelled to the outside. Whether in heating or cooling mode, the flow of refrigerant through the compressor and both heat exchangers runs in a continuous loop to keep your home comfortable.

Do you want to schedule your heat pump maintenance or have a new one installed? Give our professional team at Custom Air & Plumbing a call today. You can reach us at (866) 819-0992.

Image provided by Shutterstock

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