Air conditioning systems for heat and cold are one of the primary sources of domestic energy consumption. In this sense, heat pump installation has become one of the best air conditioning alternatives because they are efficient. They are eco-friendly and allow you to save money from day one, so the initial investment’s amortization is assured.

A heat pump is a thermal machine that achieves the perfect temperature in any premises or enclosure, both in winter and summer. It can also produce hot water in a simple, economical, and environmentally friendly way. In other words, heat pumps are air conditioning systems that use the environment’s energy to convert it into cold, heat, and hot water.

Their operation is simple: they take the energy from the natural environment (air, water, or land) and transport it inside the premises, heating them. This process is produced by the change of state from gas to liquid of a refrigerant fluid with a compressor’s help.

Although they are generally used for heating, there are also heat pumps that perform the process in reverse; that is, they transport the heat from the interior to the enclosures’ exterior, cooling them (reversible heat pumps).

Heat pumps are classified, depending on where they get their energy to operate, into three types.:

1. Aerothermal heat pumps. These heat pumps use the energy contained in the air. They can be of the air-air and water-air type and, at present, are the most common for domestic use.
2. Hydronic heat pumps. Their primary source of energy is water, and they can be water-water or water-air. They use hot or cold water distributed through pipes connected to fan coils, radiators, underfloor heating, etc.
3. Geothermal heat pumps. As their name suggests, their primary source of energy heats from the subsoil, which they transfer to the home’s interior. They can be earth-air and earth-water.

In all three cases, they are highly efficient systems, as they are capable of transporting much more heat than the thermal energy they consume. Its operation is based on the energy produced by the state of the refrigerant fluid. To carry out this double function of air conditioning, air-water heat pumps have an external unit that absorbs the air and an internal unit that distributes the heat.

The outdoor unit is installed outside the house and contains the following elements:

• Frequency modulating hermetic compressor with Inverter technology.
• Expansion valves to configure the cold-heat operation.
• A heat exchanger works as a condenser or evaporator, depending on whether we want to cool or heat. Inside this exchanger, the refrigerant circulates, absorbing or giving up the temperature.
• Exchanger, insulated from the outside, where the refrigerant yields or absorbs heat from the primary circuit water inside air conditioning rooms.
• On the other hand, the internal unit distributes the cold-heat through a hydraulic module that varies according to its use.

Now that you know what they are and how they work, here are some of the advantages of this technology and how it can impact your daily well-being.

• They are versatile. They can be adapted to different environments (homes, old houses, buildings, sports centers, hotels, gyms, etc.) depending on the air conditioning or hot water production.
• They are highly efficient. They work with a compressor that consumes electricity to transport the heat, not to generate it. They are so efficient that they are considered renewable energy.
• They are environmentally friendly. They do not emit waste, carbon dioxide, or any other pollutant into the atmosphere.
• Heat pump installation is simple, and its cost is lower than in other systems.
• They have minimal maintenance.