What’s a Heat Pump?

February 18, 2008 | By Kelley Koehler | Filed Under Tucson Homes Explained 

Question from the Audience: What’s a Heat Pump and does it affect resale value?

Answer: A heat pump is basically an air conditioner in reverse.

Before we get all geeky with this answer, let’s point out that heat pumps are usually appropriate for climates where it doesn’t get incredibly cold outside, much like Tucson, and in general, don’t add or subtract value when compared to a furnace-type heater.

And now the techno-dork answer.

First, we need to wrap our minds around the concept of measuring and transferring heat and not cold.  Cold is just the relative presence or absence of heat.  So an air conditioner removes heat from the house, and a heat pump adds heat to the house.  In fact, an air conditioner takes the heat from inside and vents it outside, and a heat pump takes the heat from outside and vents it inside.

Also, your refrigerator is basically an air conditioner in a box. 

So there’s two parts: the air handler and the condenser/compressor.  The air handler’s job is to direct air over a coil full of freon, where the air either looses heat or gains it by passing over the coil, depending on which mode you’re using.  Sometimes, this is the part inside the house or the garage.  The condenser/compressor is the big box that sits outside, whose job is to compress the freon either before or after it runs through a condenser coil, again, depending on which mode you’re using.  That’s the box where the freon either releases heat to or gains heat from the outside air.

Clear?

Good.

HowStuffWorks.com has a good explanation of how heat pumps work too.  But you heard it here first!

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