How Does A Hot Water Heat Pump Work?

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The most common way to describe how a Heat Pump heats water is as “a fridge, but in reverse“. This is a great analogy, but what does it mean?

Let us simplify this process by explaining it in two steps.

1. The Heat Pump fan draws in the surrounding air
2. Heat is extracted from the air and transferred to the water

This is the simplest way we can explain how a Hot Water Heat Pump works.

For a more technical explanation, see the explanation below.

1. The fan pulls the outside air into a part called the evaporator.
2. In the evaporator, the warmth from the air is soaked up by a fluid called a refrigerant.
3. The warmth from the air changes the refrigerant from a liquid to a gas.
4. The gas is squeezed together to make it a hotter, more pressurised vapour.
5. As it turns into a vapour it flows into the coil that wraps around the water.
6. The coil works as a heat exchanger, heating the water as it flows around and around.
7. During this process, the refrigerant cools and reverts from a vapour to a liquid form.
8. The liquid refrigerant passes through an expansion valve, which reduces its pressure and cools it down.
9. The cooled refrigerant starts to turn back into a liquid and rises back up the coil.
10. The refrigerant returns to the evaporator to start the process all over again.

Still confused? That’s ok, we were too. So we asked our Product Specialist, Adam, to help us clarify…

You can check out his response below.

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