Many people use air conditioners and heating systems, but very few people actually know how they work. As far as most people know, you turn on the thermostat and the rest is taken care of from there. However, there’s much more than meets the eye when it comes to heating and air. When it comes to these systems, heating pump condensers are an important aspect that many have seen, but few have considered.
Many may have seen the large box outside of buildings that have central heating and cooling. With these units, there are two main parts. One’s the evaporator that takes heat and turns it into cool, and then the condenser which takes the heat and forces it outside. It works because it makes the refrigerant change from a gas to a liquid using condensation. The heating pump condenser is located on the outside of the building or home.
All condensers are made of the same base parts. The main piece is the condenser coil which contains the refrigerant, but it also contains a fan and a compressor. The coil is often made of copper and aluminum, or it can be made completely of aluminum so heat can be properly transferred. The fan is used to circulate air to best facilitate heat transfer. The compressor is used to compress the refrigerant and pump it into the coil in a gaseous state. In the heating pump condenser, the gas is pumped into the evaporator coil to provide heat.
Heat pump condensers have a bit more to them than that of regular condensers. They have a few more components such as a defrost timer, adjustable temperature sensor, and a reversing valve. All of these parts are very important in making the machine as a whole work. The reversing valve directs the gas to the condenser coil for cooling, or to the evaporator coil for heating. When the condenser coil gets frosted over, the defrost control will switch the fan off causing the coil to heat up and melt the ice. The defrost control will switch the fan back on once the coil is running efficiently again.
Due to the fact that heat pump condensers need to exchange heat with air, they must be installed outdoors to be able to work as intended. If heat is released outside, it won’t change the outside temperature. However, if the unit is kept inside, it’ll alter the temperature. The installation of the heat pump condenser can be done by oneself if desired. Most units will come with installation instructions as well as information about how to inspect your model. Diagrams and picture references are often given as well as a list of tools needed to complete the installation.
There are even videos on YouTube that can teach easy installation.