How Does a Heat Pump Work For Cooling?

Summers aren’t getting any cooler, but your home can, thanks to a heat pump. Heat pump installations are becoming more common as an alternative to traditional heating and cooling systems. But how does a heat pump work when it comes to cooling, and can it keep your home cool during the hottest days of the year? 

Whether it’s a heat pump or central cooling system, our technicians have experience working with all types of cooling technologies thanks to a combination of on-field experience and specialized training from some of the top brands in the industry. Since 2007, our technicians have helped homeowners find suitable cooling systems that best meet their cooling needs. 

In this article, we’ll focus on how heat pumps can cool homes and explain in detail the different components that work together to provide efficient cooling. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to determine if a heat pump is best suited for your home’s cooling needs. 

Let’s jump right in!

How Does a Heat Pump Work to Cool a House?

Heat pumps use a refrigeration cycle to cool your home. The refrigerant inside your heat pump switches between a gaseous and liquid state as it works to cool your home.

The indoor unit of a heat pump system draws in hot air from inside your house. The absorbed heat is then separated from the air and expelled outside through the outdoor unit. The remaining air is significantly cooled down and distributed as cool air throughout your home. 

None of this would be possible without some key components involved in the heat pump cooling process, such as. 

• Refrigerant: Efficient heat exchange wouldn’t be possible without refrigerant, which is made up of different chemicals. Throughout the refrigeration process, refrigerant switches between a liquid and a gaseous state as it transfers heat from one area to the next. 
• Evaporator coil: Located in the indoor unit, the evaporator coil is made out of metal that is good at conducting heat and moisture from inside your home.
• Expansion valve: A component within the cooling process that reduces the pressure and temperature of the refrigerant as it passes through.
• Compressor: The heat pump compressor pressurizes refrigerant, increasing its temperature. 
• Condensor coil: Located in the outdoor unit, the condenser coil helps dissipate the absorbed heat carried through the hot gaseous refrigerant.

We’ll refer to these parts as we discuss the cooling process of a heat pump in detail. The first step in how a heat pump cools your home is heat absorption.

Heat Pump Refrigeration Cycle: Heat Absorption

In this first step alone, the refrigeration cycle of your heat pump provides cool air. The process begins with the heat pump system absorbing warm air through return ducts within your home. Heat pumps utilize heat’s natural ability to move to areas with lower temperatures and less pressure. 

While the warm air is sucked in and passes over the evaporator coil, liquid refrigerant absorbs the heat from the air. A blower fan then redistributes the cooled-down air throughout the home at a temperature set by a thermostat.

Still, the absorbed heat needs to be transferred elsewhere. The refrigerant that absorbs the heat from the warm air inside must find a way to release it, which happens in the next step of this cooling process.

Heat Pump Refrigeration Cycle: Compression

The liquid refrigerant turns into a gaseous state after it absorbs heat and is transferred via refrigerant lines to the compressor. The heat pump’s compressor adds more pressure to the gaseous refrigerant.

The pressurized refrigerant will increase in temperature. The high-temperature, high-pressure refrigerant gas then travels to the outdoor unit as it becomes one step closer to releasing absorbed indoor heat outside.

Heat Pump Refrigeration Cycle: Heat Release

Once the hot and pressurized refrigerant gas reaches the outdoor unit, it can finally release the absorbed heat from indoors. In the outside unit, there’s a fan blowing air over the coils that hold the hot, pressurized refrigerant gas.

Since the refrigerant gas’s temperature is hotter than the air blowing through, the heat will transfer from the gas because of its natural ability to move to areas with less pressure and lower temperatures. That’s why the air blowing out of your heat pump’s outdoor unit feels warmer than the surrounding air.

While the absorbed heat is being released, the gaseous refrigerant carrying it begins to change, which leads to the last step in your heat pump’s refrigeration cycle.

Heat Pump Refrigeration Cycle: Refrigerant Cools Down

The release of absorbed heat in the outdoor unit caused the gaseous refrigerant to condense and turn into a liquid. The condensation is pumped into an expansion valve.

Unlike the AC refrigerant in your car, heat pump refrigerant doesn’t deplete. Instead, the expansion valve helps decrease the pressure and temperature of the refrigerant, transforming it into a cooled-down liquid refrigerant. 

After going through the expansion valve, the refrigerant is pumped back into the evaporator coils, ready to absorb heat from inside your home and continue producing cool air. The cycle continues until your home reaches a desired temperature. 

Now that you know how a heat pump cools, it’s time to compare its cooling efficiency to a traditional air conditioning system.

Does a Heat Pump Cool as Well as an Air Conditioner?

Heat pumps are capable of cooling just as well as air conditioners, and both tend to share similar cooling ratings because they both use a refrigeration cycle to produce cool air.

There are, of course, some differences between ACs and heat pumps. Still, if you’re switching or upgrading from an AC to a heat pump, you’ll still enjoy the comfort of the cool air both systems can deliver.

Is a Heat Pump Worth it for Cooling My Home?

A heat pump’s cooling is effective and can provide comfort to your home. Now that you’ve understood how it works, you can feel confident about your heat pump’s ability to cool if you choose to invest in one. 

At Monkey Wrench, we receive hands-on training from the top brands in the industry so our technicians can understand how different components within cooling systems work so they can be prepared to install and service them. After nearly two decades of installation and repairing heat pumps, we’ve seen how they work from inside to produce cool air throughout homes all over Los Angeles and the surrounding areas. 

If you’re interested in a heat pump system and live within any of our service areas, use the button below to contact us. You can also book directly through our online HVAC scheduler.