Going Geothermal: All About Heat Pumps
September 19, 2023
Heat pumps offer heating, cooling, and even hot water for your Columbus home. These systems are both convenient and efficient, so if you’re looking for a better way to heat and cool your home, keep reading to find out why you should consider a heat pump.
Heat Pump Principles
A heat pump works very much like your air conditioner, utilizing both an outdoor condenser and an indoor evaporator. Heated or cooled air is blown through your home’s ducts. A heat pump works by transferring heat via a refrigerant liquid. Inside the condenser, the refrigerant is turned into a high-temperature, high-pressure gas. This gas is pumped through a coil that comes into contact with the outdoor air and radiates some of its heat away; causing it to condense into a high-temperature, high-pressure liquid. The liquid is then pumped into the evaporator inside your home. Inside the evaporator, the refrigerant is allowed to expand, turning into a low-temperature, low-pressure gas. The gas absorbs heat from the air in your home, and is transferred back outdoors to the condenser where the cycle repeats. This process results in cooling and dehumidification of the air inside your home. To heat your home, the opposite process takes place: your heat pump forces the refrigerant to gain heat from the outside air, then transfers that heat into your home.
Geothermal Heat Pumps
While most heat pumps exchange heat with the outside air, geothermal heat pumps utilize a closed refrigerant loop that is buried beneath the ground of your home. Refrigerant is pumped through this loop and either gains or transfers heat away into the surrounding earth. Geothermal systems offer efficiency, reliability, and durability. Up to 70% of the energy used by a geothermal heat system is renewable, lowering the carbon footprint of your home significantly. Many geothermal heat pumps are ENERGY STAR rated and offer energy savings of up to 40% over air-exchange heat pumps. Geothermal heat pumps can be easily modified to produce hot water for your home in addition to the heated water supplied by your regular water heater. You can reduce the cost of heating water for your home by up to 50% while your heat pump is in use. Although geothermal systems are more expensive to install and require drilling underground to place the refrigerant loop, underground piping is often guaranteed to last 25-50 years. The heat pump itself has few working parts and requires little yearly maintenance, providing quiet, convenient operation for years to come.
Are you interested in learning more about installing a heat pump for comfortable indoor temperatures all year long? Click over to the Columbus/Worthington Air Learning Center for more information to help you decide which type of HVAC system is best for your needs. You can find out more about the heat pump, furnace, and air conditioner systems we offer when you visit our website.