Author: Bill Hoelzer / Published: August 2021 / Read Time: Four and Half Minutes

This article gives you an inside look at how a ducted heat pump works.

Since 2007, we’ve installed hundreds of heat pumps for homeowners in Portland and Bend, Oregon. The energy savings are no joke. A heat pump can save 50% on energy bills compared to conventional heating and cooling systems. We’ll show you how.

Jump right in:

What is a ducted heat pump?
How does a ducted heat pump operate?
What’s the difference between a ducted heat pump and ductless heat pump?

If you’re curious about the costs and cash incentives for a heat pump in your home, you can give us a call at 541.330.8767, or self-schedule an appointment in either Portland or Central Oregon. Every installation comes with a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

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What is a ducted heat pump?

A heat pump is a highly efficient heating and cooling system powered by electricity. Each heat pump comes with both an indoor and outdoor unit. The indoor unit replaces your existing furnace, and the outdoor unit sits outside your home, just like an air conditioner. A heat pump delivers warm and cool air to each room in your home through the existing ductwork.

For a great introduction, check out Mitsubishi’s overview of the SVZ ducted heat pump.

Mitsubishi SVZ Ducted Heat Pump

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, a heat pump delivers 150% to 300% more heat energy to a home than the electrical energy it consumes.

We’re talking about serious energy efficiency here. That’s why heat pumps offer one of the most cost effective paths towards a low carbon future. We’ll start to see real change as we clean up the grid and replace more gas furnaces with high efficiency heat pumps.

Here what a low carbon future looks like:

If the US electricity system were powered by zero carbon generation, that would reduce total US emissions 30%.
If you then electrified buildings, transportation, even half of industry, that would boost reductions by more than 70%.

These stats come from the Energy Gang’s podcast, “Unlocking Home Electrification With Heat Pumps,” which is well worth a listen.

How does a ducted heat pump operate?

Moving heat, not generating heat

Your furnace burns gas to generate heat. A heat pump actually doesn’t generate heat at all.

Like your refrigerator, a heat pump uses electricity to move heat. During winter season, it moves heat from the cool outdoors into your warm home, and during the summer months, it moves heat from your cool home into the warm outdoors. Modern pumps save energy in large part because they simply move heat rather than generate heat.

If you want to get into the technical side of how heat pumps move heat with thermostatic expansion valves and all the rest, start with this primer from the U.S. Department of Energy.

inverters to the rescue

Here’s an analogy to compare the operation of a furnace to a heat pump.

Imagine that you want to take a shower, and all you have is a five gallon bucket. You could pour the water over your head, or allow the warm water to come out gradually over a five minute period.

When you turn on your furnace, you get a blast of hot air, like pouring a bucket of warm water over your head. By contrast, a heat pump allows heated and cooled air to come out at a moderate rate over a longer period of time.

Rather than blasting air and watching the curtains blow, a heat pump continuously matches your heating and cooling needs. It does this with an electrical component called an inverter, which controls the heat pump motor.

Modern inverters allow heat pumps operate at a huge range of speeds - from 20 or 25% up to more than 200% of power consumption (source). The result is that you get more consistent temperatures throughout your home, even at the peak of summer or winter.

Ducted heat pump vs. ductless heat pump

A ducted heat pump typically replaces an existing gas or electric furnace and uses the existing ducts to distribute conditioned air throughout your home. A ductless heat pump has a single-indoor unit (called a “head”) that heats and cools a particular room or area of your home. Check out the video overviews for more on the two types of systems:

Don’t hesitate to give us a call if you have questions about whether a heat pump makes sense for your home: 541.330.8767. You can also self-schedule an appointment online.