Triathlon (heat pump)

Last updated May 21, 2019

The York Triathlon was a heat pump system for residential and small business heating and air conditioning introduced circa 1997. Unlike a conventional heat pump or air conditioner where the compressor is driven by an electric motor, the Triathlon was driven by a natural gas fueled 5 horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine. Maintenance requirements included annual changes of the oil and spark plugs on the engine. This equipment is no longer offered.

A heat pump is a device that transfers heat energy from a source of heat to what is called a heat sink. Heat pumps move thermal energy in the opposite direction of spontaneous heat transfer, by absorbing heat from a cold space and releasing it to a warmer one. A heat pump uses external power to accomplish the work of transferring energy from the heat source to the heat sink. The most common design of a heat pump involves four main components – a condenser, an expansion valve, an evaporator and a compressor. The heat transfer medium circulated through these components is called refrigerant.

Natural gas is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, but commonly including varying amounts of other higher alkanes, and sometimes a small percentage of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide, or helium. It is formed when layers of decomposing plant and animal matter are exposed to intense heat and pressure under the surface of the Earth over millions of years. The energy that the plants originally obtained from the sun is stored in the form of chemical bonds in the gas.

Although it burned natural gas, it should not be confused with absorption cycle cooling which is a heat-driven technology. The Triathlon units utilized the conventional vapor-compression refrigeration cycle and was unique in its use of an internal combustion engine to drive the compressor.

Vapor-compression refrigeration or vapor-compression refrigeration system (VCRS), in which the refrigerant undergoes phase changes, is one of the many refrigeration cycles and is the most widely used method for air-conditioning of buildings and automobiles. It is also used in domestic and commercial refrigerators, large-scale warehouses for chilled or frozen storage of foods and meats, refrigerated trucks and railroad cars, and a host of other commercial and industrial services. Oil refineries, petrochemical and chemical processing plants, and natural gas processing plants are among the many types of industrial plants that often utilize large vapor-compression refrigeration systems.

York is now a unit of Johnson Controls.

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