| Why do most people seem so confused and | | | | room: You install a heat pump, and it's warm |
| bewildered about heat pumps? They have been | | | | inside. A heat pump will circulate the air in the |
| around now for at least several decades, yet the | | | | room, capture the heat energy that is there, and |
| technology behind them seems to mystify so | | | | transfer that heat energy outside. Because heat |
| many people. So, I decided to research this | | | | energy has been taken out from the room, you |
| subject for myself in order to tell you how - in | | | | will feel cooler. |
| layman's terms - these things work | | | | What do you do in the winter? Simply reverse |
| The first thing I should deal with, I guess, is the | | | | the whole process: use your heat pump to move |
| name itself: heat pumps. Why are they called | | | | heat energy from the outside to your rooms |
| that? If they are pumps, then what are they | | | | inside (even when it's cold outside there's heat |
| 'pumping?' Well, the word pump is actually very | | | | energy there, remember?). You will feel warmer |
| appropriate (at least to my mind), as pumps | | | | in that room as a result. |
| move something - water, gas, oil - from one | | | | One very important not: heat pumps, by |
| place (like the bottom of a well) to another place | | | | themselves, do not burn fuel to add heat to a |
| (like your sink). And that's exactly what heat | | | | cold room - they simply move it from someplace |
| pumps do: they move, or 'pump' heat energy. If | | | | else. This means that a heat pump is not a |
| this is a hard concept for you to grasp, here's an | | | | furnace, which burns fuel. A heat pump is an |
| illustration. Imagine letting a cup of hot tea sit | | | | energy-transferor, not an energy-producer. |
| awhile to cool down. Now think about it: What | | | | Some heat pumps are called air-source heat |
| really happened? Well, when a hot liquid cools, the | | | | pumps, so called because they use the air |
| heat energy passes from the hot liquid to the air | | | | (surrounding the unit or from a separate unit |
| surrounding it. In other words, heat was 'pumped' | | | | outdoors) as their source for heating and cooling. |
| (moved) from one location to another. | | | | Other types of heat pumps are called Geothermal |
| You might not realize it, but even on the coldest | | | | heat pumps - they draw heat energy from the |
| day outside, the air contains some heat energy. | | | | ground outside (below the frost line) to heat, or |
| The same is true for the ground beneath our | | | | pump excess heat energy into the ground to cool. |
| feet: it has the capacity to store, or hold, heat | | | | They do this by transferring heat energy through |
| energy. Heat pumps simply move, or 'pump' heat | | | | a series of coils that are buried deep in the |
| energy from one place to another. When you use | | | | ground. You may not realize it but below a certain |
| a heat pump to heat or cool a room, you are | | | | depth the temperature of the ground remains |
| making use of this basic fact of physics. | | | | fairly constant year-round. |
| Let's see this in action when you decide to cool a | | | | |