The United Church in Meadowood

Whoever you are, just as you are, God loves you.  No exceptions.

An Introduction to Geothermal

Heat Pumps

If this section is a little too basic for you, check out the button link below

You probably use heat pumps every day

green refrigerator in the corner of a kitchen

At least, you do if you regularly use refrigerators, air conditioners or freezers. These are called air source heat pumps, since they send heat into, and draw heat from, the air.

A refrigerator works by putting liquid under pressure to force it to change into a gas. Elsewhere in the system, the hot gas is cooled and is returned to its liquid state. A compressor changes the liquid to a gas and a condenser changes it back again. 

The outer coil on the back of a fridge gets warm because changing a liquid into a gas gives off energy/heat. The inner coil cools the inside of a fridge because changing a gas back into a liquid takes heat away.

Geothermal heat pumps

close up of shiny residential heat pump equipment

Geothermal ground source heat pumps also work by giving off heat when they change a liquid into a gas and absorbing heat when they changing it back. As the name suggests, they do part of their process below the earth’s surface.

In winter, a compressor in the building changes liquid from the underground loop into gas. This releases a great deal of heat that is then sent into the building. 

In the summer, the system runs in reverse, pulling the heat out of the building as it changes the gas back into a liquid and sending it into the ground. 

Scroll to Top
Skip to content