Save Money By Understanding How Heat Pumps Work

While in ground heat pumps are tremendously popular devices, few pool owners actually fully understand how heat pumps work.  A full understanding of how heat pumps works will make it easier on the homeowner to maintain a heat pump and to keep the heat pump in working order.  In addition, having knowledge of how a heat pump works will set the homeowner’s mind at ease, and gives the homeowner more confidence when operating the device.  Finally, grasping an understanding about the intricate workings of heat pumps ensures that the pool owner knows how these devices offer money saving and energy saving potential.
So, how do heat pumps work?  Today’s pool heat pumps incorporate technologies which are much like those used in units used for home air conditioning.  A heat pump for a pool has a ventilation system with a fan that draws air into the device and into an evaporator coil.  The air which is taken from the outside environment is compressed with a compressor containing a refrigerant, and then pushed through a heat exchanger.  The heat exchanger will then push the heated pool waters back into the pool.  This process continues until the pool reaches desired temperatures.
Electricity is relied on to power the ventilation system and the compressor unit in the heated pump.  Heat is naturally drawn from the air and this is where the pool owner derives significant money saving and energy saving advantages.  A compressor inside the pump uses Freon which is supplied by an evaporator tube filled with the Freon gas in liquid form.  This gas uses the air that passes over the external area of the Freon containing evaporator tubes.  The built in compressor inside the heat pump literally squeezes the Freon forcing a temperature increase equivalent to more than 200 degrees Fahrenheit or 90 degrees Celsius.  Heat is then added to the Freon gas. 
The heat, after reaching the condenser inside the pool heater, is then passed on to the swimming pool waters, which is passed through the heat exchanger.  As the temperature of the refrigerant diminishes, the water temp rises.  The refrigerant inside the pump is forced through a pressure control regulator, which minimizes the pressure inside the heat pump, thereby allowing the refrigerant to re-cool so that the heating process can begin again when necessary.
Knowing the answer to “how do heat pumps work” gives the pool owner a full understanding of the device’s money saving potential.  Since these highly advanced devices require such a small amount of energy to operate, the pool owner saves quite a bit on his or her electric bill.  As mentioned above when examining the intricate details of how pool pumps work, one can see that ambient air is used from the natural environment and heat is taken from that air to heat the pool waters.  This action permits pool pumps to generate five times more energy for heating then a source derived from electricity alone.  Basically, this boils down to the fact that for each 1 kilowatt of electricity that an in ground pump uses, the device generates a total of 5 kilowatts of heat for heating pool waters.