How to choose a heat pump and what are its advantages?

25
Aug
A heat pump is the source of energy for your heating and hot water system and can also be the source for your air conditioning system.
The main difference between a heat pump and other thermal energy generators (electric, gas and solid fuel) is that when producing heat, up to 80% of the energy is extracted from the environment.
A heat pump extracts thermal energy (from the temperature difference between the home and the heat pump source) from the air, soil or body of water.
In what case should you choose a heat pump as the main source of heat in your home? What are its advantages?
These are just some of the points we will cover in our article!
Main advantages of heat pumps
A heat pump cuts energy costs by more than half.
You pay only for electricity and thus become independent from changes and fluctuations in gas prices, which is important in our unstable times. The heat pump can operate for heating down to -7°C without backup heat sources, and when the outside temperature drops below -7°C, it is necessary to connect the built-in electric heater of the heat pump or another source (solar collector, electric boiler, gas boiler, etc.).
Modern heat pumps are fully automated devices. You don’t need to change or throw anything away. Heating, cooling and air conditioning operate automatically.
The most important advantage of heat pumps over other heating methods is energy independence: heat pumps consume energy from renewable sources, and you do not depend on natural gas.
You are no longer dependent on abnormal gas prices, save a lot of money and gain energy security for your family.
Disadvantages of heat pumps.
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The main drawback is the price. A heat pump requires a fairly large investment.
Increased requirements for the power supply system. It should be three-phase and with minimal voltage drops.
We will not weigh the pros and cons, but we believe that heat pumps are useful both in everyday life and on an industrial scale.

Classification of heat pumps
- The main classification of pumps by heat source is as follows:
- Air-to-water heat pump. The source of heat is the outside air. It is the most affordable and easiest to install.
- Heat pump Water – Water. Heat sources are underground water or lakes, ponds. We rarely encounter such equipment, because users rarely live near a body of water.
- Soil-water heat pump. The source of heat is the earth. It is less common because the initial investment is high due to the need to dig wells or excavate a large area near the house to install a horizontal pipe.
- Hybrid heat pump. If you have a gas boiler, it can be connected through a special heat pump controller. Therefore, when the outside temperature drops, the system will start the gas boiler.
- Recommended for apartments Air-Water heat pump.
- Soil-water heat pump. The source of energy can be soil, stone, lake, air, or in general any source of heat with a temperature of 1 ° C or higher, available in winter. This could be a river, the sea, a sewer, the release of hot air from a ventilation system or a cooling system of some industrial equipment.
- Ground-to-water heat pump. When using rocks as a heat source, a pipe is lowered into a well.
It is not necessary to use a deep well; you can drill several shallow, cheaper wells, the main thing is to obtain the calculated total depth. For preliminary calculations, you can use the following ratio: 50–60 W of thermal energy per 1 meter of probe.
- Soil-water heat pump. When using a plot of land as a heat source, the pipe is buried in the ground to the depth of soil freezing (selected for a specific region).
The minimum distance between adjacent pipes is 0.8…1.2 m. No special soil preparation, backfill, etc. is required.
- Soil-water heat pump. Soil preference – it is advisable to use a place with moist soil, ideally with close groundwater, but dry soil is not a hindrance – it only leads to an increase in the length of the contour.
The approximate value of thermal power per 1 meter of pipe is 20-30 W. Thus, to install a 10 kW heat pump, a ground loop 333-500 meters long is required.
If calculated correctly, the buried contour does not affect garden plantings, and the area can be used for growing crops in the same way as in the absence of an external collector.
- Water-to-water heat pump. When using water from a nearby body of water, river, or sea as a heat source, the circuit is placed at the bottom.
This option is ideal from all points of view: external short circuit, “high” ambient temperature (the water temperature in the tank in winter is always positive), high energy conversion efficiency of the heat pump. The main condition is that the tank is flowable and of sufficient size.
- Air-to-water heat pump. This type of heat pump is the most affordable because there is no need to dig wells, prime surfaces or locate a nearby pool of water. This equipment only needs outside air to operate. In this case, the external unit is installed outside, and the internal one indoors (in the case of split models). It is very similar to an inverter air conditioner.
- Underfloor heating with water heating and a heat pump is the most effective combination.
Energy is not only “produced” economically, but also used economically. Water heated floor – low-temperature heating system (coolant temperature 35-50°C).
If we compare it with a traditional “radiator” heating system (coolant temperature 70…90°C), then thermal energy savings can reach 30-40%. The ratio of electricity consumed to thermal energy produced by a heat pump (“heat pump efficiency”) largely depends on the heating system for which heat is supplied by the heat pump: the lower the design temperature of the coolant, the higher the efficiency of the heat pump.
Due to technical limitations, the temperature of the heating supply to the heating system from a geothermal heat pump should not exceed 55°C, and the return water temperature should not exceed 50°C.
If you do not have the opportunity to install a warm water floor, we recommend installing larger radiators, usually 20-30% larger than needed for a classic heating system. The idea is simple, since the heat pump provides low coolant temperatures, it is necessary that the heat transfer surface of the radiator be as large as possible.

How does a heat pump work?
- The coolant, passing through the outer pipe, heats up by several degrees.
- Inside the heat pump, the coolant, passing through a heat exchanger called the evaporator, transfers the heat collected from the environment to the internal circuit of the heat pump.
- The internal circuit of the heat pump is filled with refrigerant. The refrigerant, which has a very low boiling point, passes through the evaporator from a liquid to a gaseous state. This occurs at low pressure and a temperature of -5°C.
- From the evaporator, the refrigerant gas enters the compressor, where it is compressed at high pressure and high temperature.
- The hot gas then enters a second heat exchanger, the condenser. In the condenser, heat exchange occurs between the hot gas and the coolant in the return of the home heating system. The refrigerant gives off its heat to the heating system, cools and turns into a liquid state again, and the heated coolant of the heating system enters the heating devices.
- As the refrigerant passes through the relief valve, the pressure drops, the refrigerant enters the evaporator, and the cycle repeats.
A photovoltaic system is ideal for a heat pump because you can be 100% independent of the grid or what’s going on in the world. Or simply reduce your energy costs. Also, since the heat pump has a small heating delta of the coolant, it can heat the coolant in the heating system to 40-50 degrees Celsius.
It just needs to be connected to a heating system with a very large surface, such as large radiators (+20.30% for standard sizes) or heated floors.

A heat pump is often offered as an alternative to gas, solid fuel or electric heating. Low running costs are the main factor that makes this type of heating attractive.
On average, a heat pump that consumes 1 kWh of electricity produces 4 kWh of heat. On the website amber.md you can choose an excellent heat pump model.
This is also beneficial in the case of gas heating, of course, taking into account the investment in the source, as well as subsequent operation. The growing popularity of heat pumps means that their costs are falling.
At the present stage of development, air source heat pumps have taken a step forward compared to geothermal ones in terms of the amount of thermal energy received over the entire heating period or per year if the unit is operated throughout the year.
By the way, the heat pump produces heat not only during the heating season; heat for the hot water supply system is generated throughout the year.
And for the average country house, the cost of preparing hot water is about 15–20%.
Installing a heat pump, although it requires a significant investment, guarantees safety for both you and the environment, as well as savings and autonomy.
You can find us in Chisinau at Vadul lui Voda street 68 or in online chat from amber.md!