The Basics of Air Conditioning and Heat Pumps

When in cooling mode heat pumps and air conditioners do the basic same job – transfer hot air from inside your home to outside. In HVAC terminology, these two systems are specific types of units that keep you cool. But the heat pump has a second job it can do. Let’s look under the hood of both and see how they each work.

What Is a Heat Pumps?

A heat pump is a type of central HVAC system that contain hot air from inside your home to the outside in order to cool down the interior. A heat pump can also pump hot air into your home by reversing the flow. Many heat pumps have an electrical heater in the interior unit that adds additional heat when outside temperatures drop.

What Is an Air Conditioner?

An air conditioner takes hot air from your home, runs it through a condenser with refrigerant for cooling and pumps it back into the home to drop the inside temperature. An air conditioner cannot pump hot air back into a home to help with heating. Instead a home with an air conditioner typically uses a furnace to heat the home.

What Is the Difference Between Heat Pumps and Air Conditioners?

All Temp offers both and will keep them serviced for your convenience. New homeowners may think that space heaters will do the trick for some cold days. However, they have to balance the heat against the electricity bill for those few days. All Temp has carrier heat pumps or air conditioners with heat coils for you that are much more efficient & cost less to operate.

Air conditioners lose out to heat pumps in terms of the range of applicability for HVAC systems when you compare heats pumps vs. air conditioners. Heat  can serve as the heating unit for a building, while air conditioners can only be used for cooling.