How do Heat Pumps Work?

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Heat Pumps work a bit like a refridgerator (but backwards), transferring heat from one source to another.

Essentially heat is transfered to the heat pump by lops or air units and this low grade heat is used to boil refridgerant. The heat is then pressurised and the temperature goes up to 55-65degrees - this can now be used for heating or hot water.

All heat pumps produce between 3 - 5 times the amount of renewable energy than electricity required to power them.

Most heat pumps rely on an immersion to give them a boost when high hot water demand is required but heat pumps can also be installed with solar water heating to provide a complete hot water and heating solution.

Ground source and water source heat pumps

Ground source heat pumps and water source heat pumps work by absorbing the heat from the sun which is stored in the earth or in water between 1m and 2m depth.

Ground source and water source heat pumps use a system of flexible pipes containing fluid which are buried underground or in water which absorb, then carry heat into your house.

Air source heat pumps

Air source heat pumps extract heat from the outside air temperature wth the help of an air handling system. Air source heat pumps can include the following types:

Air to water usually includes an external unit collecting heat from the outside air temperature which is then transfered to the internal unit which uses the refridgerant cycle to transfer the heat into a wet central heating and hot water system.

Air to air heat pumps take air temperature from internal or external units and transfer the heat via a air distribution system. External units can be used to heat apartments or open plan rooms such as church halls, offices etc and also work alongside or integrated with air conditioning systems.

Heat recovery are a kind of air to air or air to water heat pump, whereby the warm air from excessively warm areas of a building (kitchens, lofts) can be used to heat water or air.

Your next steps

Contact us for more information about heat pumps.