This is the eighth in a series of Heat Pump 101 videos from instructor and author, John Siegenthaler, P.E.. “Air-to-Air Heat Pumps” 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.
Water-to-air heat pumps operating in heating mode:
- Absorb low temperature heat from any water source (typically ground water or soil)
- Increase the temperature of that heat using a vapor compression cycle
- Deliver the higher temperature heat to the building using a forced air distribution system.
Water-to-air heat pumps operating in cooling mode:
- Absorb low temperature heat from inside air
- Increase the temperature of that heat using a vapor compression cycle
- Dissipate the higher temperature heat to a stream of water (typically ground water or flowing through tubing buried in the ground)
Other things to know:
- The most commonly-used heat pump in geothermal applications
- Mounted indoors
- Available with vertically-oriented or horizontally-oriented cabinet
- Pre-charged with refrigerant at factory
- Refrigeration systems with extended range used for geothermal applications, and narrower range for commercial water loop HP applications.
- Single unit common in average residential application.
- Multiple units common in commercial applications
- Available for single phase or 3-phase power
- Some units equipped with “desuperheater” to heat domestic water whenever compressor is running
The next video in this series describes how water-to-water heat pumps work. 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.
