Types Of Heat Pumps

 Heat pumps are versatile heating and cooling solutions that a reused in many houses across the United States. These machines do not use any fuel or electricity for combustion to generate heat. They work by transferring heat and as a result are more eco-friendly. In cooling mode, these gadgets work by transferring heat from an enclosed area to outer space and therefore cool the space. In heating mode they source heat from the external environment such as outside air or external water body and transfer it inside the rooms to heat them. It changes from cooling to heating mode and vice versa just by reversing its operation cycle.

 Heat pumps are of various types. Let’s tale look at them:

Air Source Heat Pump System: In these systems the heat is sourced from external air and drawn across the heat exchanged. This heat is used to cool the room air that is taken through the ducts. The hot air is again circulated back to the rooms to heat them. The temperature of the surrounding will vary through the year depending on geographic area.


Ground Source Heat Pump System:
This taps heat present in the earth or underground. It can be water based or refrigerant-based. In the former case, water is circulated through plastic pipes buried beneath the earth's surface. Refrigerant based heat pumps usually use R-410A which is flown though copper tubing buried in the ground. In winter seasons heat is collected from the earth by the fluid and transferred into the building. During the summer, the cycle reverses itself to cool the building by extracting heat from the building and discharging it in the ground. The bonus of the system is that it creates lot of hot water both in winter and in summer. These are also called geothermal heat pumps.

 
Water Source Heat Pump System:
These heat pumps work in the same way as air source pumps.But they extract heat from a water body rather than the air. This so done by cycling water or refrigerant through a long network of pipes laid at the bottom of a water body. As water passes through the pipes it gathers enough heat from the lake, reservoir or the pond. This heat is then used to make your rooms warm. The water source heat pumps can be classified in two categories – closed loop and open loop.

 In closed-loop systems a mixture of water and anti-freeze solution is sent through pipes to a water source such as a lake to exchange heat with it.

The heated mixture is then piped to the heat pump and the heat is exchanged with the refrigerant.

In open-loop systems water from the source is extracted and piped direct to the heat pump. Heat is then exchanged with the refrigerant and the water is returned to the source. However installing the heat pump requires extraction and discharge license from environmental agency.

 Heat pumps can also be classified as monovalent and bivalent. Heat pumps are generally meant for moderate climates. They are not able to source enough heat in extreme weathers to heat your house. In case you stay in a locality with mild climatic conditions then you can purchase a monovalent heat pump that will meet all your heating requirements. But if the temperature in your zone dips down several levels below zero degrees then buy a bivalent heat pump. These machines have an auxiliary heating system (i.e. a traditional boiler) which supplements the heating requirements when the external air temperature falls below 0º C.

 

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