Air Source Heat Pump Climate Control Air Conditioning Systems (Air to Air Heat Pumps)
Air source heat pump climate control air conditioning systems can be used to provide heating and cooling to anything from a single room to large high-rise buildings.
Benefits of an air source heat pump
Heating
Air source heat pump climate control air conditioning systems are popular in North America and Scandinavia as an energy efficient method of heating, and are becoming increasingly more popular in the UK for domestic as well as the more traditional commercial applications, especially when cooling is required.
Cooling
Being able to cool a building as well as heat it is one of the major assets of an air source heat pump climate control air conditioning systems.
Cooling using air source heat pump climate control air conditioning systems is ideal.
Filtration for cleaner air
The indoor units of heat pump climate control air conditioning systems contain filters to clean the air. Systems are available with sophisticated filtration systems able to remove odours, bacteria and other undesirable elements from the air.
Wide choice of indoor units
There is a wide variety of different types of indoor units available. They tend to fall into a number of categories, although there can be a wide choice of different functions or manufacturer specific attributes within these categories, as manufacturers develop their technical knowledge, introduce niche products and try to differentiate their products from others on the market.
All indoor units serve the same purpose, to transfer heat or cooling to the space to be treated, either directly or via ductwork. They contain as a minimum, a heat exchanger, fan, filters and controls.
High wall mounted – this is the most common type of indoor unit for domestic and light commercial applications, and because of its higher sales volumes, generally the cheapest. The most basic form is a neutral coloured long thin rectangular louver fronted box which sits on the wall. For domestic and light commercial or healthcare applications where aesthetics, noise or high quality filtration are important, a number of manufacturers produce niche products to satisfy these demands, generally at a cost premium.
Fujitsu ASYA High Wall
The LG Artcool Gallery
Ceiling cassettes - this is the most common type of unit for larger footprint spaces or where the duty required is high. It consists of a relatively shallow rectangular box which sits within the false ceiling void, with a rectangular louver fronted facia panel which sits below the ceiling. Again, manufacturers are competing to provide niche products that are more attractive, or have useful functions not available from their competitors etc.
Fujitsu AUYA Compact Cassette
Low wall mounted – this type of unit is often used where the room has no available high wall space or where the customer’s preference is for nothing to be visible above the general level of the furniture. They all tend to be a neutral coloured rectangular louver fronted box which is fitted to the wall at low level.
Fujitsu AGYV Floor Standing
Under ceiling – these are available in a wide range of types and capacities, and tend to be used in areas where; a high duty is required, there is no suitable wall space, or no false ceiling to permit the use of ceiling cassettes. They are generally a neutral coloured shallow rectangular box with louvers incorporated that sit just below the ceiling.
Fujitsu ABY Under Ceiling
Ducted – these are available in a very broad range of types and capacities, from small units capable of serving a single small room via ductwork connected to the pre-formed spigots on their front, to large high capacity units capable of operating with large ductwork systems.
Fujitsu ARYA Large Ducted
Controls
Most heat pump climate control air conditioning systems will automatically select either heating or cooling modes to achieve the temperature setting of the thermostat.
Domestic and light commercial heat pump climate control air conditioning systems are generally controlled by either an infrared multi-functional hand held controller similar that used to control a television, or a wall mounted hard wired multi-function controller.
Larger, more complex, commercial systems can fully integrated into the building management system for on-site or remote monitoring and control, link to hotel booking systems, and much more.
Size of System
It is important to size a system properly. Each system should be selected after calculating the cooling (based upon UK sensible conditions) and heating requirements of the area(s) to be treated. This is generally done using one of the widely available computer programs designed for this purpose.
The better insulated the property, the smaller the heat pump climate control air conditioning system required - and the less money it will cost.
A typical commercial installation requires approximately 120-150W per square meter of cooling. However, this can vary widely based upon such factors as the building construction, fenestration, orientation, number of occupants, electrical equipment and lighting loads.
The heating requirement for most UK homes is around 6 to 8 kW. A normal-sized home which obtained building regulations approval after April 1st 2002 should only require around 4-5 kW.
Cooling requirements are often much higher than those for heating, as such factors as solar gains and other heat sources such as electrical equipment and lighting need to be addressed. The maximum cooling load is normally used to size heat pump climate control air conditioning systems. However, as heat pump climate control air conditioning systems become more popular for domestic heating, when the property is not necessarily required to be cooled to design temperature at peak times, and evening “comfort cooling” only is required, this is not always the case.
Running costs of an air source heat pump climate control air conditioning system
Typically, a simple 3.5kW unit will use 0.9kW of electricity to provide 3.5kW of cooling (nominal) or 1.2kW of electricity to provide 4.8kW of heat when the system is running.
The variable which will affect the overall power consumption is the amount if time the systems is actually running.
A heat pump climate control air conditioning system is normally selected to cope with the maximum cooling demand, for example: an office with a maximum cooling load in the summer of 5KW would be fitted with an air conditioning system of 5KW. But for most of the time it is possible the cooling load would vary between say 1 and 4KW. A modern energy efficient inverter driven heat pump climate control air conditioning system will vary the compressor speed to adjust the heating or cooling output to suit current room requirement.
So if the air conditioning compressor was operating at an average of 50% diversity (the factor shown as a percentage of the equivalent of the unit running at full capacity for a unit of time. E.g. a unit running at 50% of its capacity for 30 minutes in every hour would have a diversity of 1 x 50% x 30/60 = 25%), this would be the determining factor in calculating the running costs. In a room which has the sun as the main source of heat gain, the diversity could be 30%, but for an office with a constant heat gain from electrical equipment, the diversity could be 80%.
EXAMPLE
For a small air conditioning system of cooling capacity 3.5KW (power consumption max = 0.9KW)
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Installation costs for typical UK house
The initial purchase costs of an air source heat pump climate control air conditioning system can be less than that for conventional oil or gas fired boiler heating system. The system has the added advantages of cooling for summer and filtered air.
The cost of a heat pump system will vary according to the size and energy efficiency of the property, the complexity of the installation and individual aesthetic tastes.
A typical domestic-sized air source heat pump climate control air conditioning system might be expected to cost in the region of £1,200 to £1500 for a 3.5kW system serving one space.
An air source heat pump climate control air conditioning system serving the main rooms in a typical home will generally cost in the region of £1000 to £1500 per room.
VAT is payable at 5% not 15% for domestic installations.
Installation
Most heat pumps are generally simpler to install than gas or oil boilers, although specialist installation is required.
Installation times vary with the duty and complexity of the system.
A simple single room domestic or light commercial installation is usually completed in a day (although sometimes a long one), with the minimum of disruption. A suitable electrical supply will be required, but with the modern inverter technology used in most domestic and light commercial systems, the fuse rating is similar to that of general power circuits.
Larger commercial installations are normally complex and can take long periods, involve specialist crane lifts, out of hours working, interconnected fresh air ductwork systems and much more. All of which will impact upon the project’s construction period.
Larger commercial systems (including larger retail, hotels, leisure, healthcare, etc)
The commercial use air source heat pump climate control air conditioning systems has been prevalent in the UK for several decades, although rapid technological advancement is still being made.
Systems can be designed for almost all commercial applications, from a single room to large high-rise or footprint building. The advanced technology now available for commercial applications is vast and complex. Great emphasis is put upon economical use and the whole life costs of systems.
Larger commercial systems tend to require a three phase electrical supply. However, there are even products available that only have very small electrical requirements to power their fans and controls, with the compressor operating on gas.
It is possible to design systems that are fully integrated into the building management system for on-site or remote monitoring and control, link to hotel booking systems, use heat recovered from one part of a building to heat another part, monitor power consumption down to individual rooms, incorporate fresh air ventilation, and much more.
For server rooms where not only temperature control (generally cooling only) but also humidity control is critical, specialised systems are available.
For healthcare buildings high quality filtration capable of destroying odours and most airborne bacteria can be incorporated.
Fresh air ventilation with heat/coolth recovery
Where fresh air ventilation is required in addition to temperature control and air filtration, some types of indoor unit are capable of integrating a ducted fresh air supply.
When providing fresh air as part of a heat pump climate control air conditioning system installation, it is common that heat recovery units are incorporated into the ductwork systems. These have integrated fans and pass the fresh air over the exhaust air separated by fine membranes which ensure that the air coming into the building it allowed to absorb a high percentage of the heating/cooling being removed with the exhaust air. Thus saving energy costs.
Helpful Advice
As air source heat pump climate control air conditioning systems require a good supply of ambient air to absorb heat from when heating, and reject heat to when cooling, they need a suitably ventilated position for the “outdoor” unit. In all but a very small number of specialised circumstances, this will be external to the building. There must also be a suitable route(s) for the relatively small interconnecting refrigerant pipes and cables. Were these and not available, installations are unlikely to be possible.
Heat pump climate control air conditioning systems are made all over the world. Some are cheap and cheerful, some are very expensive. The systems installed by Climatherm are all made to the highest standards of quality and reliability.
When you decide to invest in an air conditioning system, choose a recognised brand (which has a comprehensive technical back up in this country, stocks of spare parts, really all the things you would check out of you were buying a car) installed by a reputable installer (hopefully Climatherm).
Heat pump climate control air conditioning systems will go wrong if they are not installed correctly. All systems installed by Climatherm are made to the highest standards of manufacturing quality, and installed by our fully trained and suitably qualified engineers.
We know from our customers who have tried “cheaper” competitors that a poor quality or badly installed system may work for a few months, but then the problems will start.
Heat Pumps are EU Energy level rated in the same manner as domestic white goods, on a scale from A to G (A being the most efficient). The higher the rating, the more energy efficient the Heat Pump is, and the lower the fuel bills will be for the life of the equipment. Hence slightly higher initial investments can provide huge savings over the operational life of the Heat Pump.
