How Do Heat Pumps Work?
Heat pumps can absorb heat from different sources.
There are four main sources used currently:
Air-to-air
These type of heat pumps remove heat from the air in one location and move it to another location. With a unit placed outdoors and one indoors, it is also called a “split unit”.
One of the key components of an air-to-air heat pump is the refrigerant, which absorbs heat from a warmer area and releases it in a cooler area. Once the heat is released, the refrigerant cools down, allowing it to absorb more heat as it flows back to the warmer area.
Reversible air-to-air heat pumps can function as heaters and coolers, depending on the weather.
During summer, they pull heat trapped indoors and expel it outside. In the winter, they absorb heat from the air outside and release it inside.
Water source
These types of heat pumps have a system of pipes and a pump that pulls heat from groundwater.
The piping system can be open-loop or closed-loop. Open-loop pipes circulate water through the system before pouring it out into an underground water source (which could be natural or man-made) and then drawing it up again. Closed-loop systems circulate the same water through the pipes.
Geo-thermal
These heat pumps pull heat directly from the ground, which is almost always warmer than the surface air. The piping for these pumps is laid under the house or a few inches beneath the surface of the garden.
Hybrid
Hybrid heat pumps draw heat from the air, ground or groundwater and from a secondary heat source which could be a boiler.
