Geothermal or ground-source heat
pumps can provide heating and cooling
in nearly any climate. But they can also
supply hot water, and the technology for
doing so has improved greatly over the
past few years. In the past, the only way
to get domestic hot water from a heat
pump was with an add-on that provided
only part-time, partial hot water. Newer
models include a dedicated hot-water
coil that supplies all of a home's yearround
hot water needs.
To understand how this works, you
have to know how a heat pump provides
heat. Like a refrigerator, which uses a
compressor and a refrigerant loop to
remove heat from the box and blow it
into the kitchen, a