Heat Pumps: Good For All Seasons!
When you think about heating and cooling, you might think about furnaces and air conditioning units. However, there are other options and possibilities to heat and cool your house. One such option is a heat pump.
A heat pump is a pump that can both heat your home during the winter and cool it during the summer. It doesn't burn any fuel, and it doesn't run electricity through an element. This pump works using the same technology as fridges and air conditioners. This technology consists of a liquid which absorbs heat when it turns into a gas and releases heat as it goes back into a liquid state.
Summer action
In the summer, the heat pump works like an air conditioner. In short, it removes hot air from the house and returns it outside. Liquid coolant is sent through a coil of tubing that wraps around the pump. The liquid will expand as it moves through the coil and changes into a gas, due to it absorbing heat from the air around the coil.
Next, a blower within the pump pushes cooled air from near the coil out through ducts within the house. Now, the gas in the coil, considerably warmer than before, will move through a compressor which will take it back to a liquid state. This occurs when it moves through a condenser outside the house.
If your temperatures are relatively mild in the summer, this makes a very convenient and cost efficient way of cooling a house down.
Winter action
In the winter, the heat pump reverses the entire process outlined above. The heat from the air outside will get extracted and then will be released inside the house. These pumps are incredibly efficient when the temperature hits approximately 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but becomes more and more inefficient as the temperature drops. Unfortunately, this means that you may need an extra electric heater in the winter if you live in an area that has cold winters, making this option less preferable if you need an overly warm house.
Overall, the option of a heat pump on its own would be usable if you were living in an environment that didn't have huge fluctuations in temperature. However, this could also be something that might be able to be considered in tandem with other heating and cooling systems that are already in place to add a boost to their performance. Contact a company like Advanced Heating & Cooling for more information.
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