Understanding Heat Pumps for Home Heating
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A heat pump moves heat rather than generating it directly, extracting warmth from outside air, even on cool days, and concentrating it indoors using the same underlying refrigeration cycle found in a refrigerator, just running in reverse to move heat inward rather than outward from the space being cooled, using electricity mainly to drive that movement.
Because a heat pump moves existing heat rather than creating new heat from burning fuel, it can produce considerably more heating energy than the electrical energy it consumes to run, a ratio that makes it substantially more efficient than traditional electric resistance heating across most climates it is used in.
The same equipment can typically run in reverse during warmer months, extracting heat from indoor air and releasing it outside, which is why heat pumps are increasingly installed as combined heating and cooling systems rather than as a heating only appliance for a home, covering both seasons with one unit.