The Basic Concept: Moving Heat vs. Making Heat
Let’s start with the big idea: heat pumps don’t generate heat, they move it.
Most of us grew up with heating systems that burn something — gas, oil, or electricity — to create warmth. That process requires a lot of energy, and it usually comes with some waste. A gas furnace, for example, burns fuel to heat air that gets pushed through your home. Even the most efficient models lose a little energy along the way.
Heat pumps flip this approach on its head. Instead of creating heat from scratch, they extract existing heat from the air outside your home and move it indoors. Yes, even in cold weather. As long as the outdoor temperature is above absolute zero (-459.67°F/-273°C), there’s still heat energy in the air — and modern cold-climate heat pumps are built to capture it efficiently.
It’s the same basic tech that powers your refrigerator or air conditioner. Your fridge doesn’t create cold air — it removes heat from inside the fridge and releases it into your kitchen. A heat pump just runs that idea in reverse: removing heat from the outdoor air and releasing it inside your home. And when summer rolls around? It switches modes and works like an AC.
Why Heat Pumps Use Less Energy
Because they don’t have to create heat, heat pumps are dramatically more efficient than traditional systems. Most combustion-based heating systems operate at 80–95% efficiency, meaning a small portion of energy is always lost in the process. In contrast, heat pumps can reach 200–500% efficiency — meaning you get two to five times the heat energy for every unit of electricity used. That’s not magic. That’s physics.
Heat pumps work smarter by using electricity to relocate heat, not make it. That’s why they use less energy than a furnace. For example, imagine your old furnace uses 100 units of energy to give you 95 units of heat. A heat pump might use just 30 units of electricity to give you the same comfort — because it’s not burning anything, just moving warmth from point A to point B.
The Power of the Refrigeration Cycle
At the core of every heat pump is the refrigeration cycle — a closed-loop system that makes all this heat transfer magic happen. This loop is filled with refrigerant: a special fluid that changes states from liquid to gas and back again under different pressures and temperatures.
As the refrigerant flows through the system, it absorbs heat from the outside air, even in freezing conditions. Then, through a series of pressure changes and phase shifts, it releases that heat indoors. All of this happens inside a sealed system of coils, compressors, and expansion valves — no open flames, no combustion, just smart energy movement. The same science behind your fridge and air conditioner, but a heat pump takes it further by working in both directions — heating in the winter, cooling in the summer.
The Four-Step Heat Pump Cycle
Step 1: Extracting Heat From Outside Air
It all starts at the outdoor unit. Even on a chilly day, there’s usable heat in the air. The refrigerant inside the heat pump’s coil absorbs this heat as it passes through. Thanks to its low boiling point, the refrigerant can easily pick up energy from the environment — even when it’s below freezing. This is where modern cold-climate heat pump technology shines. Jetson Air is designed to extract heat in outdoor temperatures as low as -22°F/-30°C, making it a perfect solution for cold climates.
Step 2: Compressing Refrigerant to Increase Temperature
Next, the refrigerant — now a low-temperature gas — enters the compressor. Here, it’s compressed into a smaller volume, which raises both its pressure and temperature. Think of it like squeezing a bicycle pump: the air heats up as you compress it. Same principle here.
The result? A hot, high-pressure gas that’s ready to deliver warmth indoors.
Step 3: Releasing Heat Inside Your Home
That hot refrigerant now flows to the indoor coil. A fan blows indoor air over this coil, and the heat transfers from the refrigerant into the air in your home. Once the heat is released, the refrigerant cools back down and returns to a liquid state.
Your home gets warm. The refrigerant gets ready to head back outside.
Step 4: The Cycle Repeats (And Reverses for Cooling)
After releasing its heat indoors, the refrigerant heads back outside to repeat the cycle. In cooling mode — say, during summer — the whole process runs in reverse. The system pulls heat from your home and dumps it outside, just like an air conditioner.
It’s a sealed, repeating loop, constantly adjusting to your indoor needs and outdoor conditions.
Heating and Cooling From One System
Why Two-in-One Saves Money
Heat pumps are efficient in more ways than one. Beyond cutting your energy use, they also eliminate the cost and hassle of maintaining two separate systems for heating and cooling. No more emergency service calls for a busted AC in the middle of summer or a broken furnace in the dead of winter. With a heat pump, you’ve got one system to install, one to service, one to power—and usually, a whole lot less to worry about. That simplicity pays off. With fewer repairs, lower maintenance needs, and consistently lower utility bills, homeowners see a strong return on investment within just a few years—especially when rebates are factored in.
The short version? A heat pump is your fridge’s smarter cousin. One all-electric system that heats in the winter, cools in the summer, and quietly retires your furnace and AC in one fell swoop. Efficient, quiet, and smarter than your current system — it’s not magic, it’s just really, really good science.