What is the difference between a furnace and a heat pump?
A furnace heats your home by blowing air around a heat exchanger or elements. On the inside of the heat exchanger, some sort of fuel is burned like propane, natural gas, or oil. An electric furnace has electric elements that the air is blown across. In either case the heat is transferred to the air in your home from the consumption of electricity or a type of fuel. A heat pump uses the properties of refrigerants to remove heat from the air outside and bring it inside. A typical heat pump consist of a coil inside the “furnace” inside the house and a coil in a rectangular metal cabinet outside the home. When a refrigerant is compressed it is warm. When it evaporates it is cold. By controlling which coil is warm and which is cold, a heat pump can provide both heating and air conditioning.
