The advent of the air source heat pump ushered in a quieter source of heating and cooling. It accomplishes this in a couple of ways that save money and energy. A properly installed and maintained heat pump can generate as much as one and one half to three times the heat energy than the electrical energy used to deliver it.
How Does A Heat Pump Cool Your Home?
Since the name “heat pump” implies a particular action, the actual heat pump operation, as far as explaining it, might be anti-climactic. The heat pump consists of a set of copper coils, one inside the home and the other outside. These are protected and aided by aluminum fins. A compressor works to move the liquid refrigerant that’s within the coils. When cooling is needed within the home, the inside coil extracts heat from the home and it evaporates into the refrigerant. It’s then pumped to the outside coils where it’s released from the gas and goes into the air.
This relatively complicated transference goes in reverse to heat the home. Want a simple and non-technical explanation? A heat pump pumps heat out of the house to cool the home and pumps heat into the house to warm the home.
These air source heat pumps work well in most areas of the United States, however, in very cold areas or those with long cold winters, they don’t operate as efficiently as some other systems. The heat it needs to find outside may not be there in sufficient amounts. Homeowners in especially cold areas would do well to augment this system with gas or electric heating during this time for comfort.
For more information about heat pump operation or any other home comfort concerns, contact Gentry Heating, Inc. We’ve been serving the needs of clients in and around the Asheville area since 1963.
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