Geothermal heat pump elbows attach to the front of the unit and allow a flexible reinforced rubber hose or hard piping (copper, HPDE, PEX) transition to the flow center or loop.
Reinforced rubber hose is typically used to provide ease of installation, and a vibration break between the heat pump and the flow center or interior piping to eliminate sound transmission through the home or building. Heat pump elbows have a 1/4″ FPT (female pipe thread) port allowing the installation of a PT plug. This is an extremely important component of a geothermal or water source heat pump as it allows a differential temperature (delta-T) and differential pressure (delta-P) measurement across the unit’s heat exchanger as a basic performance check. Every geothermal and water source heat pump should include these PT ports . Note that water-to-water heat pumps should also use these elbows on the load side of the heat pump. Elbows for the load side of water-to-water units are typically MPT X FPT to allow hard piping, and are available in 1″, 1-1/4″ and 2″ sizes.