Blog - THE HOT TOPIC WITH HEAT PUMPS

As the UK comes out of its fourth heat wave of the year, one of which was a record-breaker back in June, breaking a record that had previously stood since 1976 with the mercury reaching 38°C in some parts of the country.

Because of these extreme temperatures, the topic has certainly moved away from how we will heat our homes in the future to how we will cool our homes in summer.

From this, across the industry, we have seen a huge increase in demand for residential air conditioning. However, what is sometimes overlooked, due to a lack of industry knowledge, is that often the Heat pumps in our garden that provide heating in the winter, can also provide an element of cooling in the summer. Our Technical Director, Nick, has had this style of system installed in his property for several years.

In some cases, a system used for heating in the winter can be used for cooling in the summer without much additional expense. Systems utilising underfloor heating as an emitter, in most cases, can also be used to provide an element of cooling with little to no additional cost, as long as the dew point is monitored. Or alternatively, as Nick does, by using fan coil units. These offer a level of cooling closer to that of an an Air 2 Air (AC) unit by using convection (blown air), as opposed to the radiant effect you would have underfloor.

The important thing to remember when looking to use either method mentioned above, is the Dew point and managing Condensation. This can either be done via a suitable dew monitor and control. The other important thing to remember with cooling, is that all the pipework runs should be suitably insulated.

Nick has made a video, which can be found on the link below: https://youtu.be/ktpFZWztdGE?si=bIM_iHGd85nCIdc3

So, the next time you are asked about an A2W heat pump suitable for heating a customer's home, it may also be worth exploring, and discussing with them, the possibility of it being able to provide an element of cooling, something no fossil fuel boiler can do.