Heat pumps are devices that use small amounts of energy to move heat from one place to another. They are typically used to extract heat from the air or ground to heat a building. They can also be reversed to cool a building. They work the same way as air conditioners, except they can do the work of an air conditioner and a furnace. Therefore, when using heat pumps, it is not necessary to install heating and cooling systems: a single system performs both functions. They are also more efficient than furnaces because they simply transfer heat instead of burning fuels to produce it; but as a result, they work better in moderate climates than in extreme climates. For people in moderate climates like Arizona, using Arizona heat pumps instead of furnaces and air conditioners can save a considerable amount of money on utility bills.
There are different types of heat pumps, but they all work on the principle of heat transfer, which means moving heat from one place to another instead of burning fuel to create it. Due to the second law of thermodynamics, heat naturally tends to flow from a place with a high temperature to one with a lower temperature. They use small amounts of energy to reverse that process, extracting heat from low-temperature areas and moving it to high-temperature areas, from a heat source like the ground or air to a heat sink like a building. A common type of heat pump is an air source, which draws heat from the outside air of a building and pumps it through refrigerant-filled coils to the interior.
AZ aerothermal heat pumps consist of two fans, cooling coils, a compressor and a reversing valve. One fan is used to draw outside air over the refrigerator coils, which transfer the heat inside, where a second fan blows it off the coils and distributes it throughout the building. The purpose of the reversing valve is to reverse the flow of refrigerant so that the system works in reverse. Instead of pumping heat into the building, it releases it, like an air conditioner does. The coolant then absorbs the heat inside the pump and carries it outside, where it is released. The refrigerant then cools down and returns inside to receive more heat.
Ground source heat pumps work the same way as air source heat pumps, except they absorb heat from the ground or a body of water below ground and then transfer the heat indoors or vice versa when operating in reverse mode. An AZ absorption heat pump is an air source unit that runs on solar, propane, natural gas, or geothermally heated water instead of electricity. The main difference between air source models and absorption pumps is that instead of compressing the refrigerant, absorption pumps absorb the ammonia in the water and then a low-power pump pressurizes it. The heat source boils the ammonia out of the water and the process starts all over again.