No, a residential heat pump will not work or produce any heating and cooling without refrigerant. Refrigerant is the indispensable working fluid that acts as the thermal medium responsible for absorbing heat from the outdoor air during winter or indoor air during summer and transferring it through the refrigeration circuit. Without refrigerant circulating under proper pressure, the compressor has no medium to compress, meaning no heat exchange can take place across the indoor and outdoor coils. Furthermore, attempting to operate a heat pump with zero refrigerant will cause the compressor motor to overheat rapidly and suffer permanent mechanical failure, as the moving internal components rely heavily on the circulating refrigerant gas and oil mixture for thermal cooling and lubrication. You can verify that refrigerant is completely missing if the compressor runs but produces zero temperature change.
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