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
