![]() ![]() market was a tiny fraction of global sales. Others came from European-based companies. The same Asian-based firms that sell ductless mini-split heat pumps in North America produced many of these air-to-water heat pumps. The European market was 232000 units, with France as the number one market, followed by Germany and the U.K. The Chinese market alone represented almost one million units sold in 2014. ![]() According to the August 2015 issue of the Japanese publication JARN, the 2014 global market for air-to-water heat pumps totaled over 1.7 million units. This is not the case in other markets such as Asia and Europe. With a suitable heat exchanger, heated water from an air-to-water heat pump can also be used to heat a swimming pool or maintain the water temperature in a spa.Īlthough most North American heating professionals are familiar with ductless mini-split heat pumps, as well as geothermal heat pumps, few of them are familiar with air-to-water heat pumps. It also allows the heat pump system to be configured to provide most, if not all of the energy needed for domestic water heating. This sets the table for use of hydronic heat emitters such as radiant floors, radiant walls and radiant ceiling panels, panel radiators, fan-coil convectors, and even contemporary low temperature fin-tube baseboard. Some air-to-water heat pumps are capable of producing leaving water temperatures of 130F+, even with relatively cold outdoor air. The difference is that it delivers heat at very useful temperatures into a stream of water (rather than air) passing through its condenser. An air-to-water heat pump uses the same concept as an air-to-air heat pump for extracting low temperature heat from outdoor air. This is where a different heat pump configuration becomes attractive. Furthermore, most ductless mini-split heat pump systems only provide space heating and cooling and lack the ability to supply ancillary loads such as domestic water heating, or pool/spa heating. As such they do not offer the potential to combine their high thermal efficiencies with the comfort provided by a well-designed hydronic distribution system. Each indoor unit can operate independently, allowing for zoning.Īlthough cold climate ductless mini-split heat pumps have carved out a nice market share over the last decade, they rely on forced air delivery of heating and cooling. A single outdoor unit connects to multiple indoor wall mounted cassettes, each supplied by its own refrigeration line set. The most common configuration is called a ductless mini-split heat pump system. Some of the largest global providers of heating and cooling hardware, now offer “cold climate” versions of air-to-air heat pumps. However, advances in refrigeration technology, including inverter drive variable speed compressors, and a process known as enhanced vapour injection (EVI) now allow air-source heat pumps to operate at very low outdoor temperatures, typically down to -13F (-25C). It was not uncommon to turn off those early generation heat pumps when outdoor temperatures dropped to or below 20F. A refrigeration line set connected these subassemblies.Īlthough air-to-air heat pumps have been around for several decades, early generation products were not able to maintain reasonably efficient operation at low outdoor air temperatures. Big name HVAC companies developed markets for these early generation “air-to-air” heat pumps, which consisted of two major subassemblies: an outdoor condenser unit, and an indoor air handler. The “classic” heat pump for residential heating and cooling debuted in North America during the 1970s. They convert vast amounts of otherwise unusable low temperature heat into heat at sufficient temperatures to warm buildings or heat domestic water.Įlectrically powered heat pumps dovetail nicely with large-scale renewable sources of electrical energy such as utility scale photovoltaic systems, large wind turbine farms, or CHP systems operating on bio-gases produced from agricultural waste. Electrically powered heat pumps, in many varieties, are destined to play an increasingly important role in heating and cooling buildings around the world. ![]()
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