Heat pumps operate on the same principle as a standalone air conditioner: they use the cycling of refrigerant to move heat from one location and put it in another. During hot weather, the direction of the heat exchange moves from the indoors to the outdoors: the heat pump takes heat from inside a home and places it outside. During cold weather, the direction switches (thanks to a reversing valve), and the heat pump removes heat from outdoors and puts it indoors.
But wait a minute, you might think, how does that work? How can a heat pump provide heat from the outside during cold weather? We’ll explain a bit in this post. But if your heat pump ever starts to struggle with giving you sufficient heating in Trinity, FL, call up our repair experts at Ierna’s Heating & Cooling—24 hours a day, 7 days a week—and they’ll solve your troubles.
Heat pumps can do the job in Florida weather
The truth about heat pump operation is that they do have trouble extracting heat from the outdoors when the temperature drops to frigid levels. Unless the outdoor temperature has reached absolute zero (and that would be bad news, but thankfully is scientifically impossible), there is some molecular motion occurring that produces heat, and so the heat pump has something it can extract.
But when the thermostat drops below freezing, the amount of ambient heat available for the heat pump to extract becomes so low that the heat pump will begin operating inefficiently. For this reason, people who live in regions of the country that experience harsh winters need to have back-up systems like a propane-powered furnace to assist the heat pump.
However… you don’t live in one of those icy states. You live in Florida. And Florida is one of the best places in the country to have a heat pump installed. They provide effective air conditioning all through the long summers (and help remove humidity from your indoor air) and rarely have to worry about a below-freezing day during the heat.
You should definitely place a heat pump high on your shopping list of systems to install for your heating in Trinity, FL. If you already have a heat pump working for you, make sure it gets proper repairs and maintenance. Ierna’s Heating & Cooling can handle all your heat pump needs with our NATE-certified technicians.