Heat pumps are becoming widely popular heating and cooling systems due to their high energy efficiency coupled with their dual-functioning capabilities. Air-source heat pumps are an ideal choice for homeowners living in mild climates. However, one of the most common questions people have about heat pumps is how they work to heat a home during the winter.
What Are the Components of a Heat Pump?
A heat pump has various components that all must function together to adequately control the temperature inside your home. The indoor components of your system are known as the air handlers. They house the blower components that move air throughout your ducting as well as the evaporator coil.
The outdoor components of your system are housed in the condenser. It has a condenser coil, a compressor, and blower components to move air over the coil. Lastly, we have the refrigerant lines. These are copper lines that connect indoor air handlers to the outdoor condenser.
Ducted vs. Ductless
There are two styles of air-source heat pumps that you can choose to have installed in your home. The first is a ducted heat pump that uses ductwork to deliver treated air throughout the various rooms of your home. The second is the ductless heat pump that relies on up to eight indoor air handlers to deliver air to each room of your home.
The ductless option is commonly referred to as a ductless mini-split setup because it doesn’t require any ducting to work. Each indoor air handler unit is a mini-split unit that’s mounted on the wall, floor, or ceiling depending on the specific model that you choose. This unit is responsible for using its blower components to blow warm air out into the room.
How Does a Heat Pump Heat a Home?
One of the biggest misconceptions about a heat pump is that it produces heat. It doesn’t actually create heat. Rather, it extracts heat from the air and moves it to another location. In the winter, a heat pump extracts heat from the air outside and transports it into your home. To help you better understand how this works, we’ll go into more detail about the entire heating process.
A heat pump’s heating function starts at the outdoor condenser unit. The unit’s blower fan pull air in and passes it over the condenser coil. Inside this coil is a substance known as refrigerant. Heat pumps rely on the natural physical properties of heat, which continually wants to move to lower-pressure substances.
The air outside is of a higher pressure than the refrigerant inside the coil. So, as the blower fan forces air over the condenser coil, heat naturally transfers from the air to the refrigerant. This causes the refrigerant to warm up and morph into a gas. As the refrigerant is pumped indoors, it’s compressed to increase its overall pressure.
Once inside, the refrigerant will flow through the evaporator coil in your indoor air handler or mini-split. The blower fan in your unit will pull in air from your home and pass it over the coil. Heat will naturally move from the high-pressure refrigerant to the low-pressure air. This warmed air will then be delivered back into your room via ducting or the mini-split unit.
After releasing its heat, the refrigerant drops back down in temperature and turns back into a liquid state. On its way back to the outdoor condenser unit, it will pass through an expansion valve. This valve is responsible for getting the refrigerant back to a low-pressure substance so it can adequately absorb heat. This process happens over and over again until enough heat is transferred into your home to reach the desired temperature setting on your thermostat.
Understanding Heat Transfer Capability
It’s important to note that air-source heat pumps are only effective when temperatures are above the freezing point, 32°F. When temperatures approach freezing, a heat pump will struggle tremendously to absorb heat from the air outdoors. Most modern heat pumps are outfitted with an auxiliary heating mechanism. This works like an electric furnace where there’s a heating element inside the indoor air handler unit. Electricity powers the element to create heat, and the mini-split or ducting delivers the warmth throughout your home.
Air-Source vs. Ground-Source Heat Pumps
So far, we’ve been discussing the air-source heat pump. This is the most common type of heat pump available and is affordable for the average homeowner. However, it’s important to touch on ground-source heat pumps as they’re another heat pump option that homeowners can invest in.
Ground-source heat pumps are significantly more expensive than air-source heat pumps due to their complex installation process. The main difference between the two styles is that a ground-source heat pump extracts heat from the soil as compared to an air-source heat pump that extracts heat from the air. This makes a key difference when it comes to performance.
Ground-source heat pumps are positioned far enough under the soil to ensure they remain at an adequate temperature all year round. For this reason, ground-source heat pumps have no problem heating a home even when temperatures dip below the freezing point. Ground-source heat pumps require a lot more infrastructure and aren’t an ideal option for most homeowners.
Switching Between Modes
When we transition from autumn to the colder winter months, it’s important to change the setting on your thermostat. You’ll want to switch it from cooling mode over to heating mode. Some newer heat pump thermostats may do this automatically for you. You’ll just need to program in your desired temperature settings to ensure your comfort.
If you have a ductless mini-split setup, it’s necessary to set the temperature on each air handler to whatever you want it to be. Most homeowners love the capability of mini-split systems to offer variable temperature settings from room to room. It’s common to keep the bedroom a few degrees cooler than the main living areas like the living room or kitchen.
Tips on Optimizing Winter Heating Efficiency
Heat pumps are by far one of the most energy-efficient heating systems on the market today. Because they don’t expend energy creating heat, they use much less than furnaces and boilers. While switching from a traditional heating system to a heat pump will do wonders for reducing your winter heating bills, there are some other great tips you can try to better optimize your heat pump’s efficiency.
Consider checking for and sealing up any new air leaks that develop on your exterior walls, especially around your doors and windows. Open up your blinds and curtains during the daytime hours so that the sun’s rays can naturally heat up the inside of your home.
Reliable Heat Pump Installation Service
Southland Heating & Air Conditioning offers reliable heat pump installation services for the Newbury Park, CA area. We can also help with all your heating, cooling, heat pump, ductwork, roofing, indoor air quality, whole-house fan, and air purifier needs.
Call Southland Heating & Air Conditioning today to book your next service consultation with one of our HVAC technicians.