Heat Pumps: What You Need To Know

By: Jen Garvin

You know, it simply amazes me how modern technology not only scares most people, it confuses them as well. Having learned a thing or two about the ubiquitous heat pump, I thought I'd share some of these insights, and perhaps remove some of the mystery about how they operate.

The first thing I should deal with, I guess, is the name itself: heat pumps. Why are they called that? If they are pumps, then what are they 'pumping?' Well, the word pump is actually very appropriate (at least to my mind), as pumps move something - water, gas, oil - from one place (like the bottom of a well) to another place (like your sink). And that's exactly what heat pumps do: they move, or 'pump' heat energy. If this is a hard concept for you to grasp, here's an illustration. Imagine letting a cup of hot tea sit awhile to cool down. Now think about it: What really happened? Well, when a hot liquid cools, the heat energy passes from the hot liquid to the air surrounding it. In other words, heat was 'pumped' (moved) from one location to another.

You might not realize it, but even on the coldest day outside, the air contains some heat energy. The same is true for the ground beneath our feet: it has the capacity to store, or hold, heat energy. Heat pumps simply move, or 'pump' heat energy from one place to another. When you use a heat pump to heat or cool a room, you are making use of this basic fact of physics.

Let's see this in action when you decide to cool a room: You install a heat pump, and it's warm inside. A heat pump will circulate the air in the room, capture the heat energy that is there, and transfer that heat energy outside. Because heat energy has been taken out from the room, you will feel cooler.

In the wintertime we can just reverse the process: heat energy from outside is moved - 'pumped' to one or more rooms inside (even when it's cold outside there's heat energy available, remember?). You will feel warmer in that room as a result.

One very important not: heat pumps, by themselves, do not burn fuel to add heat to a cold room - they simply move it from someplace else. This means that a heat pump is not a furnace, which burns fuel. A heat pump is an energy-transferor, not an energy-producer.

Some heat pumps, called air-source heat pumps, capture heat (for heating) from the surrounding air. To cool, they simply draw it off and expel it into the air. They may draw heat energy directly from the air that surrounds the heating unit, or they might have a separate unit outside that captures and funnels the heat energy to the inside unit for dispersion throughout your home.

Other types of heat pumps are called Geothermal heat pumps, as these units draw heat energy from the ground to heat, or pump excess heat energy into the ground to cool. They utilize a system of coils that are buried in the ground. These units work because below a certain depth the temperature of the ground does not change much - no matter what the season of the year.

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About the author: Jen Garvin writes about home improvement and Heat Pump Installation Read about the issues relating toHeat Pump Problems by visiting her website.
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