Talking about heat pump, many people have many doubts in their mind that a heat pump is not using electricity as it is a later generation of energy saving products after solar, so like solar, maybe heat pump is a better way of using the other energy than solar?
As 20 years experienced heat pump manufacturer in China, We would like to tell you that a heat pump does need electricity to run, no matter it is air to water type heat pump or water to water type heat pump. However, the idea is that they use less electrical energy than the heat they produce.
Unlike air source heat pump that only simply need a heat pump unit, mainly outdoor unit to obtain heat. Ground source heat pump systems are made up of a ground loop (a network of water pipes buried underground) and a heat pump at ground level. Though this ground loop that is necessary part of ground source heat pump system, can be called evaporator as in an air to water heat pump unit, which normally for air to water heat pump unit, that would be the copper tube and blue fin combination as the evaporator.
So how they work.
A mixture of water and anti-freeze is pumped around the ground loop and absorbs the naturally occurring heat stored in the ground. The water mixture is compressed and goes through a heat exchanger, which extracts the heat and transfers it to the heat pump. The heat is then transferred to your home heating system. A ground source heat pump can increase the temperature from the ground to around 50°C, although the hotter you heat your water, the more electricity you'll use.
You can then use this heat in a radiator, for hot water, or in an underfloor heating system. Whether you'll need an additional back-up heating system will depend on your property.