How Does a Heat Pump Function in the Wintertime?
As heat pumps become more and more popular for residential use, it’s no surprise that many people are trying to discover more about how they work. Since heat pumps don’t use any combustion, it can be a bit confusing to try to understand exactly how they can heat your home during the winter months. The simple answer is that they transfer heat.
It’s All in the Transfer
A heat pump’s name is derived from its ability to pump heat to an intended destination. During the winter months, a heat pump will transfer heat from the air outside of your home to the air inside of your home. It does this via the refrigerant.
The refrigerant inside of your heat pump runs through an evaporator coil, a condenser coil, and copper tubing. Throughout the cycling of these components, the refrigerant will turn from a liquid to a gas state on a consistent basis as it moves ambient heat.
A Wintertime Run
During the wintertime, your heat pump will take heat from the outdoors and pump it into your home. Most heat pumps are categorized as air-source heat pumps because they take the heat out of the air outside. There are some heat pumps known as ground-source heat pumps that take the heat out of the soil and bring it into your home. This later version is not as popular as air source heat pumps because they are much more expensive and require ideal environmental factors to work correctly.
A Note on Resistance Heating
Most modern heat pumps will work even when temperatures are 20 degrees below freezing. However, after that point, they will start to work less efficiently. Eventually, resistance heating will have to make up for the deficit in the normal heat transfer process. Resistance heating is simply the name given to the electrical heating coils inside of a heat pump that are utilized to create supplemental heat during extremely cold temperatures.
Reliable Heating Services
Certified Service provides reliable heating services for the entire Burbank, California region. We’re also available for all of your cooling, ductless mini-split, commercial, and indoor air quality needs. Call us today to schedule an appointment.
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