Heat Pumps 101: How Does a Heat Pump Pull Heat From Cold Outdoor Air? John Siegenthaler This is the fifth in a series of Heat Pump 101 videos from instructor and author, John Siegenthaler, P.E.. “Natural vs. Artificial Heat Transfer Processes” was the previous lesson in the series. You can enroll in John’s Heat Pump 101 course for free to learn the very basics of heat pumps in less than an hour. How does a heat pump keep a building warm when the outdoor air is really cold? A lot of people don’t trust that a heat pump could keep their house warm in the winter. It’s a really fair concern because pulling heat from cold outdoor air isn’t a natural process. So how does a heat pump do that? The next video in this series covers four common types of heat pump configurations. If you want to see that video now or jump ahead to the others, you can find them all in John Siegenthaler’s free Heat Pump 101 course. Free Courses Heat Pumps HVAC Design Hydronic Heating Sustainable Building Originally posted on June 6, 2023 Written by John Siegenthaler John Siegenthaler, P.E., is a mechanical engineer and graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a licensed professional engineer, and Professor Emeritus of Engineering Technology at Mohawk Valley Community College. “Siggy” has over 35 years of experience in designing modern hydronic heating systems. He is a hall-of-fame member of the Radiant Professionals Alliance and a presenter at national and international conference on hydronic and radiant heating. John is principal of Appropriate Designs – a consulting engineering firm in Holland Patent, NY. The 3rd edition of his textbook – Modern Hydronic Heating – was released in January 2011. John currently writes about hydronic heating and solar thermal system design for several trade publications. More posts by John