HEAT PUMPS

When it comes to heat pump installation and heat pump repairs, you can be sure that YellowBird Air Conditioning, Solar and Heating will go beyond your expectations.

A heat pump uses a mechanical means to move heat from one location to another.  Two common types of heat pumps are air-source heat pumps and ground-source (geothermal) heat pumps. Both types of heat pumps can keep your home warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The difference between the two is that an air-source heat pump pulls its heat indoors from the outdoor air in the winter and from the indoor air in the summer. Whereas a geothermal heat pump extracts heat from the indoor air when it’s hot outside, but when it’s cold outside, it draws heat into a home from the ground.

A compressor and two coils made of copper tubing, which are surrounded by aluminum fins to aid heat transfer, are what make up a heat pumps refrigeration system. The coils have a look that is very similar to the way a radiator looks in your car. The way it cools the air is much like a refrigerator or air-conditioner, refrigerant flows continuously through pipes, back and forth from the outdoor coils. When the pump is put into the heating mode, liquid refrigerant extracts heat from the outside coils and air, and moves it inside as it evaporates into a gas. As the refrigerant condenses back into a liquid, the indoor coils transfer heat. Near the compressor there is a reversing valve. This valve can change the direction of the refrigerant flow for defrosting the outdoor coils in winter, and for cooling in the summer.

AIR-SOURCE HEAT PUMPS

If you live in a warm climate. an air-source heat pump is an efficient way to heat and cool your home. With proper installation, an air-source heat pump can deliver one-and-a-half to three times more heat energy to a home than the electrical energy it uses to produce the heat. The reason this is possible is because a heat pump exploits the physical properties of the refrigerant and moves heat rather than converting it from a fuel.

GROUND-SOURCE HEAT PUMPS

Ground-source heat pump systems are central heating and/or air conditioning systems that actively pump heat to or from the ground, using the earth as a source of heat in the winter, or as a coolant in the summer. This design Taking advantage of moderate temperatures in the shallow ground this type of system boosts efficiency and reduces operational costs.

Ground-source heat pumps exchange heat with the ground. Because underground temperatures are relatively stable through the year this is why using a ground-source heat pump is usually more energy-efficient. Similar to what happens when you’re in a cave, shallow ground temperature is warmer than the air above during the winter and cooler than the air in the summer. Ground-source heat pumps provide heat by extracting the ground heat in the winter and provide cooling in the summer by exhausting the heat back into the ground.

ABSORPTION HEAT PUMPS

What makes an absorption heat pump different form an air-source heat pump is that air-source heat pumps are driven by electricity, and an absorption heat pump gets its heat from either natural gas, propane, or geothermal-heated water. Natural gas is the most common heat source for absorption heat pumps so they are sometimes referred to as gas-fired heat pumps. Absorption coolers are available and they work on the same principal, but since they are not reversible they cannot serve as a heat source. Absorption coolers are also referred to as gas-fired coolers.

REFRIGERANTS

Refrigerants are mainly used in refrigerators/freezers and air conditioners. A refrigerant is used in a heat cycle and it undergoes a phase change from a gas to a liquid and back, this allows it to either give off heat or absorb it. It was discovered in the 1980s that the most widely used refrigerants were a major cause of ozone depletion, and in 1987 the Montreal Protocol treaty was introduced to outline the phasing out of ozone-depleting refrigerants. Older residential air conditioners used a refrigerant called chlorodifluoromethane (R-22), which has a high ozone depleting and global warming potential. There are many alternatives available like R-410A but it also has a high global warming potential, so other “ozone-friendly” refrigerants may become more common in the future.