How to Install Air-Source Heat Pumps

A heat pump is a HVAC system that uses compression and expansion to transfer thermal energy from a cold environment to a warmer environment. The compressor pressurizes a refrigerant, heating up the refrigerant. Air is blown over the warm refrigerant, cooling it down to room temperature. The refrigerant is then allowed to expand, cooling the liquid well below room temperature, before being passed through a heat exchanger outside of the building. The air outside warms the liquid some, which is then extracted again during the compression process.

Radiant heat exchanger
Refrigerant tubes
Compressor
Expansion port
Refrigerant filling port
Outside heat exchanger
Refrigerant

Instructions

- 1
  Place the radiant heat exchanger in front of the blower fan of the ventilation system. The heat exchanger should fit snugly up to the fan, creating an air tight seal.
- 2
  Connect a short piece of refrigerant tubing between the input of the radiant heat and the output of the compressor. The shorter this section of tubing is, the better efficiency the heat pump system will have, because there is heat loss which occurs over this length of tubing.
- 3
  Run a piece of refrigerant tubing from the heat exchanger output to the location of the external heat exchanger. The external heat exchanger will need to be placed on a hard and level surface, like a concrete slab, outside of the building.
- 4
  Connect the pressurized side of the expansion port to the tubing running from the internal heat exchanger.
- 5
  Connect the refrigerant filling port to the input of the compressor, then run a piece of tubing from the filling port out to the location of the external heat exchanger. This tubing will carry the warm, low pressure refrigerant back to the compressor to be pressurized and then cooled.
- 6
  Connect the input of the external heat exchanger to the depressurized side of the expansion port and the output to the tube running to the compressor. This will complete the loop over which the refrigerant will circulate during normal operation of heat pump.
- 7
  Use the refrigerant filling port to fill the system with refrigerant.

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