Air to air, air to water or ground to water: what to choose?

horizontalus lauko kontrūras

Heat pumps have become an integral part of a modern home, allowing heating to use what nature itself provides for free. Today, there are several types of heat pumps that extract heat from different sources – ground, air or groundwater. Such energy allows you to significantly reduce not only space heating, but also cooling costs, and enjoy the comfort all year round.

What influences the choice of heat pump?

The choice of heat pump is influenced by the plot on which the building stands, size, soil, climatic zone, financial possibilities. Heat pumps that extract heat from the air are more popular and cheaper, but ground to water heat pumps are well ahead of them in terms of economy and energy savings.

Air to air and air to water heat pumps

Air to water and air to air heat pumps attract an extremely easy installation process, an affordable price and a wide variety of choices. However, living in a changeable, cool climate zone with temperature fluctuations as high as 50 degrees Celsius per year, the annual efficiency of heat pumps that extract heat from the air is much lower than that of geothermal. In other words, the lower the outdoor temperature, the more electricity the air to air and air to water heat pump consumes. In the event of more aggressive frosts, the heat output also drops – the pump is no longer able to provide the required amount of heat and switches on the integrated electric pens. Fortunately, as the air warms, the efficiency of these heat pumps increases. Especially in summer when preparing hot water.

Ground to water heat pumps

Ground to water heat pump installation is more complex and expensive than air to air or air to water, but comparing economy, electricity consumption, efficiency at low outdoor temperatures and safety, it is the most promising heating and cooling solution for both individual and industrial buildings.

Geothermal heat pumps use free, underground, renewable resources. At a depth of approx. 1.5 m, the soil temperature ranges from 0 to 8 ° C, which enables economical operation of the heat pump and a high efficiency even at very low outdoor temperatures. The only costs incurred when choosing a ground to water heating system are the minimum electricity costs used to operate the pump, which can be further reduced by installing a solar or wind power plant.

The only challenge facing the installation of a geothermal heating system is the installation of an underground outdoor circuit. It can be horizontal and vertical (borehole) if there is not enough space on the plot. In both cases, the annual efficiencies remain similar. The main differences are that in autumn and spring the horizontal circuit has more thermal energy than the well, and at the end of winter it cools down more, and its installation costs are much lower. It is also important to mention that the vertical contour (borehole) has its advantages: it allows you to have cooling during the summer, which costs nothing; can be installed even directly under the building.