Heat pump technology is the latest innovation in heating and cooling, and one question we hear about heat pumps is the use of Freon. Consumers are often perplexed as to why a system called a heat pump would need something commonly understood as refrigerant.
What Is Freon?
You’ll need first to understand why heat pumps use Freon and what Freon is. Freon is the commercial name for one particular brand of refrigerant gas. People use the term to refer to all refrigerants, but Freon hasn’t seen widespread use for decades because Freon was a pivotal contributor to ozone depletion and climate change.
Today, most air conditioners and HVAC systems use the successor to Freon, R-410a or R-32. Even those, however, won’t be around much longer. So HVAC manufacturers continue to develop newer refrigerants that pose less harm to the environment to replace them.
Why Heat Pumps Need Refrigerant
Heat pumps use Freon to move heat from one place to another. As a refrigerant, what Freon does is absorb and release heat. As that happens, it transitions between a gaseous and a liquid state. In the summer, heat pumps, like conventional HVAC systems, use that transition to absorb heat and carry it out of a building. In the winter, they reverse the process to capture heat from the outside air and bring it indoors instead.
Contact the Heat Pump Experts
Now that you know why heat pumps use Freon, you might want to know more about them. Our experts here at Hawk Heating & Air Conditioning can help. We know just about all there is to know about heat pump technology and are happy to explain its many benefits to you. Should you decide to add a heat pump to your Herald, CA, home, we can help with that, too. We offer a complete range of HVAC installation, maintenance, and repair services, including the latest heat pump technology.
Contact us, Hawk Heating & Air Conditioning, today so we can help you choose the right heat pump system for your Herald home.
