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When an air-source heat pump is heating your home, the cooling cycle is reversed. In the outdoor unit, the heat pump evaporates a low-temperature refrigerant. As the liquid evaporates, it absorbs heat from the outside air. A heat pump can do this because heat exists in all air down to absolute zero (-460 F or -273 c). Even cold winter air contains heat.

After the gas is compressed in the outdoor unit's compressor, it passes into the indoor coil and condenses, releasing heat to the inside of the house. The pressure changes caused by the compressor and the expansion valve allow the gas to evaporate at a low temperature outside and condense at a higher temperature indoors.

Types of Air-source Heat Pumps

Most central heat pumps are split-systems, which means they have an indoor unit and an outdoor unit. Some heat pumps are packaged systems, which means they usually have the compressor, condenser, evaporator coil and the fan located outdoors in a single cabinet.

Heat Pump System

Imagine that you took an air conditioner and flipped it around so that the hot coils were on the inside and the cold coils were on the outside. Then you would have a heater. It turns out that this heater works extremely well. Rather than burning a fuel, what it is doing is “moving heat.”

Condensation: water that collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it; moisture; the conversion of vapor or gas to a liquid. Condensation in air conditioning happens when warm air hits the evaporator coil which is cold. When the warm air passes through the cool coil, water begins to collect on the coil which then trickles into the drain pan and out of the drain line.

Water

Proper maintenance on the system will keep drain line and coil working at its optimum efficiency. Having a clean drain line will prevent a system backup which could damage your home with financial impact. Maintenance should be done in the spring and fall (like an oil change).

Condensation: water that collects as droplets on a cold surface when humid air is in contact with it; moisture; the conversion of vapor or gas to a liquid. Condensation in air conditioning happens when warm air hits the evaporator coil which is cold. When the warm air passes through the cool coil, water begins to collect on the coil which then trickles into the drain pan and out of the drain line.

Air

Air is a mixture of nitrogen, oxygen and minute amounts of other gases that surround the earth and forms its atmosphere. Air conditioning is a system or process for controlling the temperature, humidity, and sometimes the purity of the air in an interior, such as an office, theater, laboratory, or house. In the cooling process hot air is removed from the indoor air and replaced with cool air. In the heating process, the opposite occurs.

Central heating and cooling is the most common method for conditioning indoor air in U.S. homes today. To provide indoor comfort, central systems efficiently produce warm or cool air in one central area and then distribute it throughout the home. You can choose between a split central system or a packaged central system. You also can supplement your central system with controls and thermostats, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, air cleaners, radiant heating and vent-free heaters.

How Does An Air Conditioner Work?

The major components of a modern A/C unit are the compressor, the condenser, and the evaporator. In a central air conditioner, the compressor and condenser are located in a cabinet outside. The evaporator is indoors, located inside the air handler unit that connects to the ductwork.

How Air Conditioning Works

Think of an air conditioner as a machine that takes heat from your house and dumps it outside by using five interrelated parts:

There are many types of air conditioning systems that can be used in the home including window, portable, ductless and central air conditioning systems. However, they all use the following components and direct expansion refrigeration.

Refrigerant: The refrigerant is the “blood” pumping through the air conditioner's system. It changes state from gas vapor to liquid as it collects heat from your house and rejects that heat to the outside. Pretty cool stuff (no pun intended). The refrigerant is special in that it has a very low boiling point meaning that it changes from a liquid to a vapor at low temperatures.

Compressor: Think of the compressor as a sort of “heart” of the system pumping the refrigerant through all the refrigeration components in a big loop. Refrigerant enters the compressor as a low-pressure warm vapor and leaves it as a high-pressure hot vapor.

Condenser: From the compressor, hot refrigerant vapor moves to the condenser. Here the high-pressure hot refrigerant vapor is cooled by air blowing over finned condensing coils by the condenser fan as it moves through the finned coils. As the refrigerant “cools” it changes state from a hot vapor to a hot liquid at high pressure and moves onto the expansion valve. The compressor, condenser coil, and condenser fan are all located in the big noisy boxy thing in your backyard often called a condensing unit.

Expansion Valve: The expansion valve is really what does the work. As the hot liquid refrigerant passes through a tiny opening at high pressure in the valve on one side, it emerges as a cool low-pressure mist on the other side because as a gas expands, it cools. So now we have a low-pressure cold liquid mist that moves onto the evaporator coil.

Evaporator Coil: The low-pressure cold liquid leaving the expansion valve now runs through the evaporator coil located in the plenum of your furnace. Here the hot air of your home blows across the evaporator coil and heats it up while the cold coil cools off the air blowing across it and back into your home. As the refrigerant heats up, it boils and changes from a cold liquid and evaporates into a warm vapor. From there it moves back onto the compressor and exterior condensing unit and the cooling cycles continues.

Earth

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Emergency HVAC Service

Have an emergency? Call Element Solutions Air Conditioning & Heating LLC at (813) 344-2661 now! We provide 24/7 emergency HVAC services for your convenience. Don't suffer another minute without heat or air in your home or business. Turn to our licensed professionals.