A heat pump is the outside part of your air conditioning system also called the condenser. It is capable of heating and cooling your home solely by using the flow of it’s refridgerant to either pull the heat out of your home or pulling the cool air out in the winter. It is widely known for it’s energy savings. Heat pumps do not burn fossil fuel like furnaces do, making them more environmentally friendly. Below we will go through the two different stages on a heat pump.

Heat Pump Cooling Cycle

As we already know, a heat pump is essentially the outside condensing unit. The reversing valve sets it apart from a regular air conditioning system. When you turn your thermostat to the cool setting, it will tell the outside unit to reverse the valve, which changes the direction the freon will cycle through your system. From there, the inside air handler will cycle the cool freon through the coils and pull the heat out from the home until it cycles back through the compressor.

Heat Pump Heating Cycle

As for the heating stage of a heat pump acts in the same way as the cooling cycle just reversed. When the heat is turned on, it will pull the cool air from inside the home to the outside unit until it is cycled through the compressor again and creates a warm freon to go back into the air handler. For a back up if it is too cold outside for the heat pump to keep up with the set temperature inside the home, an internal electrical heat strip will come on. You will probably see this on your thermostat blinking auxiliary heat.

Knowing how your system works can help identify if something more serious is affecting its operation. Always turn to Pronto Service Pros day or night to diagnose and repair your unit when in doubt.

Call today for a free estimate. Our service fee is permanently waived with any repair.