People often think of a heat pump as a newfangled replacement or upgrade for an air conditioner. And indeed, they are excellent at cooling your home all summer long. But that’s not all they can do! Heat pumps can carry heat in either direction — out of your home or into it.
While a heat pump will work just fine with a central, ducted system, they’re also often used with ductless systems, which are sometimes called mini splits. Again, these are commonly associated with cooling. But they can do more than that. A ductless heat pump can provide much of the heat you need at an extraordinarily high level of efficiency, cutting your bills and keeping you cozy. Here’s how.
Air Conditioner Components…
Just like an air conditioner, a heat pump works by cycling pressurized refrigerant through a loop of coils. The compressor which applies that pressure is housed in an outdoor unit. For a mini split, instead of having a single indoor unit like a central air conditioner, it will have multiple air handlers. These look like chunky HVAC vents and are mounted on the walls in different zones of the home.
An air conditioner, or a heat pump in cooling mode, will absorb heat from the air around the coils in the indoor unit or units. That now-cold air heads through the ductwork to reach the rest of the house or, in the case of a ductless system, it is already at its target location and only has to flow out of the vent. The refrigerant carrying the heat flows back to the outdoor unit so the heat can dissipate, and the cycle continues.
…But a Heat Pump Is Reversible!
The trick to a heat pump’s amazing versatility is a component which resides in the outdoor unit along with the compressor. It’s called the reversing valve. With help from an electromagnet called a solenoid, a slider moves back and forth within the reversing valve. This allows refrigerant to flow through certain openings, or blocks the openings, controlling the direction of refrigerant flow through the whole system.
In heating mode, warmth is absorbed from the outdoor air and released inside, so warm air will blow from the ductless air handlers. How can it soak up heat during cold weather? The outdoor air just has to be a little less cold than the refrigerant itself — it doesn’t have to be as warm as you want it to be inside. In fact, in temperatures as low as forty degrees, it can do this at an astounding level of efficiency!
Heating Efficiency
Boilers, electric or gas furnaces, fireplaces and woodstoves … all these approaches to heating a home have one thing in common. They must generate heat from thin air! But a heat pump doesn’t. Creating heat is incredibly costly from an energy perspective. Moving heat from place to place, however, uses only a tiny percentage of the energy that’s needed to generate heat.
In cold climates, it’s often necessary for homes to have a backup heating solution for the coldest winter nights. But imagine if the majority of the time you need to heat your home, you could do it for a fraction of the cost! If you’re considering a ductless heat pump in Sussex County, DE, we’d love to talk over the possibilities with you.
Schedule an appointment with Atlantic Refrigeration & Air Conditioning, Inc.