A heat pump is like an air conditioner, except it can run in reverse. On a hot day, a heat pump does the exact same job you expect from an AC. It removes heat from inside the house and then exhausts it outside. If you’ve ever stood beside the condenser unit of your air conditioner when it’s running, you’ll know the feeling of hot air blowing from it. The same thing happens with a heat pump when in cooling mode. On a cold day, a heat pump switches the way the process works: it removes heat from outside and then blows it into the house.
“Hey, wait a minute…” We can hear the gears in your mind working. Something about this process doesn’t make sense. A heat pump in heating mode is drawing its heat energy from outdoors. But … you only need to run the heat pump in heating mode when it’s cold outside. Where is that heat coming from?
