The Advantages Of A Heat Pump

Nov 5
09:16

2008

John Mahoney

John Mahoney

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The search for energy saving, environmentally friendly alternatives to the traditional methods of heating our homes has also led us to look for methods that are cost efficient. Many people are turning to the heat pump. Rather than using fossil fuels to produce heat energy, heat pumps use renewable resources such as the earth, air, and water. These renewable resources are free and easy to acquire. These resources are acquired by the heat pump.

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The search for energy saving,The Advantages Of A Heat Pump Articles environmentally friendly alternatives to the traditional methods of heating our homes has also led us to look for methods that are cost efficient. Many people are turning to the heat pump. Rather than using fossil fuels to produce heat energy, heat pumps use renewable resources such as the earth, air, and water. These renewable resources are free and easy to acquire. These resources are acquired by the heat pump.

The heat from the resource is extracted by the heat pump, the temperature is raised and transmitted to the ventilation system, and then the resource is passed back out of the heat pump to be used again. One way that a heat pump saves energy is by multiplying the amount of heat energy it takes in. In other words, if it takes in one unit of heat energy, it puts out four units of heat energy. The savings produced by this process is about 60% over that of a conventional system over five years. The heat pump has one downfall and that is that it costs much more to install it initially.

Most homeowners will find though that the extra money put out originally will be recovered in the monthly savings on their energy bill over a period of three to eight years. Homeowners in Sweden are already reaping the benefits of heat pumps in great numbers as studies have shown that over 30,000 homes in Sweden already have heat pumps installed in them.

Liquids called working fluids are used by heat pumps. These fluids have a boiling point that is much less than that of the temperature of the heat source. The fluids are also used to transmit the resultant heat created into the area intended to be heated. This is done by passing the fluid through a heat exchanger where the existing heat is removed from the fluid. This extraction is work and causes the temperature of the liquid to go up to the point that it boils and evaporates.

 Once the liquid is evaporated, a compressor is used to add pressure to the system. This pressure adds additional heat to the system which is then removed and run through the ventilation system. Removing this heat causes the vapor to once again cool off, condensing it and making it a liquid again. The liquid is then run through an evaporator and recycled to be used over again in the heat creation process.