Heat Pumps - How they work, efficiency, price and installation

How does a Heat Pump work?

To understand how a heat pump works, you need to first understand how an air conditioning unit or a fridge works.  An air conditioning unit concentrates heat in one set of coils positioned outside your home, and cold in another set of coils positioned inside your home. You can read more about how air conditioners work here.

So, a heat pump is essentially the inverse of an air conditioner, with the hot coils on the inside of your home (via the internal unit) and the cold coils on the outside of your home (via the external unit).

Heat Pumps Efficiency

Heat pumps are very efficient in relation to the energy they use. The energy used to run a heat is not directly used to create heat, it enables the transfer of heat and cold, which can generate around 3 - 5 times the heat output of the energy used to run it.

Most heat pumps can be set in heating or cooling mode. This simply reverses the flow of Freon between the inside and outside coils.

Heat pump price

Common heat pumps brands include Fujitsu heat pumps, Panasonic heat pumps, Mitsubishi heat pumps. You can buy these heat pumps from most appliance stores. Price varies between appliance stores. 

Heat pumps install

Heat pumps need to be installed by an electrician, preferably one who specializes in heat pump installation.