If comfortable conditions in the apartment are important to you throughout the whole year, you should pay attention to the correct organization of the microclimate. A heat pump is a versatile piece of equipment that can be used for both heating and cooling a room.

The heat pump can have several varieties:

Heat pump for apartments, heating options

Heat pump for apartments (air-to-air)

An air-to-air heat pump in an apartment works on the principle of a classic air conditioner. It can work both for cooling and for heating the apartment. The heat pump is a split system, which consists of outdoor and indoor units. A line along which Freon moves interconnects these units.

The outdoor unit is responsible for heating Freon with low potential heat using cold outdoor air.

The indoor unit is responsible for the transfer of Freon heat to the air in the room. He can be:

The air-to-air heat pump is widely used in Europe and southern countries, where there is no severe frost during the cold period.

However, the engineers of our company do not recommend the use of this type of heat pump, as it loses its effectiveness in the climate of Ukraine. In addition, the use of a wall-mounted, ducted or cassette-type indoor unit for heating is inefficient. These units supply heat from the top point and according to the laws of physics, heated air always moves up. Therefore, air currents from the indoor unit will not warm the floor, which in turn will lead to a decrease in comfort level.

Heat pump for apartments (air-to-water)

The air-to-water heat pump is a versatile device for heating and cooling in an apartment building. It looks like a conventional split air conditioning system: it has an outdoor and indoor unit. It works on the same principle as an air-to-air heat pump. Only in this case, the heat of Freon is transferred to another heat carrier, namely water.

The main advantage of a heat pump is its high efficiency and ability to maintain a comfortable temperature in summer and winter.

The main characteristic of the energy efficiency of a heat pump for heating an apartment is the COP (Coefficient of Performance). The higher the COP, the higher the efficiency of the heat pump.

It is worth noting that COP is highly dependent on the temperature of the coolant. The lower the water temperature in the heating system, the higher the efficiency of the heat pump. Heating at low temperatures is best organized using a system of underfloor heating. In contrast to centralized heating, where a coolant with a temperature of 70-90 ° C is supplied to the radiator, the underfloor heating system operates at 35-55 ° C.

When a heat pump operates to cool an apartment, the cooling performance coefficient is used - EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio).

In order to achieve a high coefficient of efficiency, the apartment must have:

If all conditions for high efficiency are not met, the heat pump loses all its advantages.

For an apartment in a multistory building, you can use any air source heat pump or bivalent system.

Bivalent system

A bivalent system is a system that consists of a heat pump (the main source of heat) and an additional one (for example, an electric boiler). The disadvantage of a heat pump is that at low temperatures (from -20 °C and below) it cannot cope with the load and stops working. To avoid this situation, an electric boiler is installed. It “backs” the heat pump at extremely low temperatures.

Special features of heating apartments with a heat pump (air-to-water)

An air heat pump is a universal device for heating an apartment in a multi-story building, as it has a high power. One such device can perform three functions:

We already know that underfloor heating is used for heating with a heat pump. Let us consider this question in more detail.

Underfloor heating is an invariable component of an effective apartment heating system that operates at low heat carrier temperatures.

When the outdoor temperatures is down to -10°C, it is able to maintain a comfortable temperature at 24-26°C indoors. However, it has its drawbacks.

To avoid this situation, an additional heat source is needed, which can quickly heat up in severe frosts and cool down quickly when warming. It could be:

What is the payback time for an air heat pump?

An air source heat pump will be a profitable investment and will pay off if the following factors are present:

In this case, the installation will fully pay off in 10 years.

Selection of a heat pump for apartments

To choose the right heat pump, first of all, you need to find out the heat loss of the apartment using a heat engineering calculation.

Based on the data obtained, the power of the heat pump and heating equipment is selected with the obligatory use of a warm floor. Moreover, do not forget that a high COP/EER is required to implement an energy-efficient system.

When is a heat pump recommended for heating?

If you are interested in:

In this case, we strongly recommend using a heating system with an air source heat pump in an apartment building.

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