Appreciating What Heat Pumps Are And Why They Operate

By Bertulda Zerna


When a person first thinks of changing the temperatures in buildings, making it warmer or cooler, they never seem to think of heat pumps. In today's world they think of devices like forced hot air heaters, central air, possibly even the common fan. A heat pump can be used for both heating and cooling. Often they even work better for these types of applications.

Put in its simplest form, a heat pump is an appliance that uses very small amounts of energy to remove heat from one area, and than move it to another. They are often used to pull heat out of the ground and air to heat buildings. They also work in reverse, taking heat out of a building to cool the air or ground. This means they can be used year around for high efficiently.

One of the neatest things about them is that they can operate as both a heating unit and a cooling unit. This gives them an advantage over central air and forced air units. They are also more efficient, sometimes as much as 70 percent more. This is because it is harder to create heat than simply move it from one place to another

There are some terms one needs to know about them though. One of these terms is SEER. This means seasonal energy efficiency rating. This is a ratio of how much energy is moved outside divided by the electricity used for cooling. The best ratings are around 14 to 18.

Another one to understand is heating seasonal performance factor or HSFP. This is a complex formula used to define the energy moved indoors for heating purposes when the device is used only as a heating device. This formula also counts a few other things like heating supplements and the unit defrosting so it is more exact. On the average, better ratings are eight to ten.

Other considerations are items that help make them even more efficient than they already are. A desuperheater coil heats potable water using waste heat. A dual mode compressor will spool up and sown depending on the load placed on them. Scroll compressors are very quiet and long lasting. They also perform the same work about 30% more efficiently than a traditional compressor.

Most heat pumps will work better in a area where moderate temperatures exist. This happens because it is harder to move heat away from a cold areas to warmer ones. Also the heat these pumps make is not as intense as heat made with a common gas fired furnace.




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