How do heat pumps work? Most heat pumps owners are virtually helpless when it comes to understanding the “how” or “why” of this important home appliance. Most homeowners take their heat pumps for granted until the pump gives out in the height of summer heat wave or fizzles during a hard cold snap.

How Does A Heat Pump Work?

A common question is “how does a heat pump work?” The heat pump is basically a device that pulls heat from one location or space and transfers or moves it into another. That is the simple genesis behind how heat pumps works – heat transfer.

There are many different kinds of heat pumps: from standard air source to water-to-air and newer geothermic or “earth” energy systems, that work by way of collecting and transferring heat from one environmental location (air, water or the ground) into another.

Heat pumps are very unique of all the major household appliances in that that they work as both air conditioner and furnace. In winter, heat is collected from outside air and released into the home and in the summer, the reverse takes place. Heat in the home is gathered and released into the outside environment.

The 5 Basic Components of a Heat Pump

A standard heat pump consists of two separate machines that form a single recirculation system: an outside unit and an inside unit. This system allows the heat pump to transfer heat in two directions: from outside to in (for heating) and from inside to out (for cooling).

A heat pump system is comprised of 5 major parts:

The Compressor – this device compacts and pumps refrigerant into a high pressure gas so it can absorb heat from the surrounding air (inside or outside).

The Condenser is a system of coils or pipelines that transports the high pressure refrigerant and converts it from a gas into a liquid.

The Expansion or Reversing Value – changes the process of the heat pump from heating to air conditioning and vice versa. The expansion value allows heat to move from the outside unit to inside the house or from inside the house to the outside unit.

The Evaporator is also a system of coiled pipes that that transports the low pressure refrigerant and transfers it from a liquid into a gas.

The Air Handler is the last in the part in the system and is basically a blower fan that moves heated or cooled air into the ducts of the house.

Except the reversing or expansion valve, the exact system (on a smaller scale of course) can be found in any household air conditioner or refrigerator or freezer.

The heat pump system is fully reversible and heat pumps can provide year-round climate control in almost any size home or building. Just how well heat pumps work in your location depending on the average local winter temperatures, the size of the pump and how large your home is. But in any case, no matter how heat pumps work, with one installed, you will probably save on heating and cooling costs.