If you're looking for a heating solution for your home, why not consider a reverse cycle air conditioner that can both hot and cold air that gives you two-in-one functionality? It might seem counterintuitive, that an air conditioner can also function as a heater, and you might wonder how it can do both. To cool your home it runs one way, and it does the reverse to heat your home. Not only do these air-conditioning systems also offer heating, but they do so economically as far as electrical units go. Here's how.
How Do They Work?
A reverse cycle system doesn't work by generating heat and then dispersing that around the place, as some heaters (such as gas furnaces) do. Instead, heat pumps (as they're also called) draw warmth from the air and relocate that heat to another place. In cooling mode, they extract heat from indoors and move it, via the external unit, outdoors. In heating mode, they absorb the ambient heat from outside and relocate it inside.
The Role of Refrigerant
The key to the process is the refrigerant-filled coils that wind in a closed circuit from the indoor to the outdoor unit. Because warmth naturally gravitates towards cold things, the icy-cold refrigerant in the coils absorbs the ambient heat from surrounding air. Therefore, if you switch on the heating, the coils in the outdoor unit absorb heat from the atmosphere. Warmth, thus, moves from the air to the refrigerant, which becomes a hot gas after it passes through the condenser unit.
As the hot gas moves through the coils in the indoor unit, the air is pulled over the pipes, and this now hot air blows back into the room. The heat has transferred from the refrigerant to the atmosphere. Now that the refrigerant has released its heat, it's icy-cold again and travels outside to pick up more warmth. The cycle continues.
So long as the outside temperature is ten degrees or so, your system will be able to extract warmth from the air. This varies with different models, though, so ask your contractor about specific units and their capabilities.
Benefits of Two-In-One Systems
The benefit of using a reverse cycle unit for your heating is, of course, that you only need one heating and cooling system. Thus, you won't have to install and repair two different units or pay repair bills twice. Plus, you won't have multiple heating and cooling components cluttering up your decor, as the same vents can deliver everything.
Hello! My name is Jake. I am the kind of guy who finds out about a subject and then who must learn everything he can about it. A subject I have focused on in recent times is HVAC. This might seem a little strange. However, my interest was sparked when an HVAC contractor visited my home to install a new air con system. He was really friendly and he took the time to answer my questions. Since then, I have been doing everything I can to learn about HVAC. I hope you enjoy reading what I have written on my blog.