So when the refrigerant goes through the interior of your home through the air handler, it comes outside through these pipes, and what happens is this will come in as a vapor to go into the compressor. The compressor compresses it and it circulates the refrigerant through coils. Much like the radiator in a car, the fan will come on and it will draw air through the fins across the coils and blow expel the heat into the outdoor mirror.
So this is the condensing unit. If it's a heat pump, it's often referred to as the outdoor unit, 'cause it will run in reverse. So a straight AC system with heat does not have a reversing valve. It's different than a heat pump, although it looks exactly the same except for some components. And then a heat pump will have a reversing valve since it's used for heat and cooling.
It's called the outdoor unit. But this is what is called a condensing unit. This is what expels heat from the inside of your home, outside into the atmosphere and when it's a heat pump. It absorbs heat from outside into the pipes and then heats your home that way.
