16.03.2024

II. Heat pumps - air to air type heat pumps, their advantages and disadvantages

Air-to-air heat pumps are in some ways the simplest of the popular heat pump options. In terms of operation, they are similar to both air-conditioners and air-to-water heat pumps - like an air-to-water heat pump, it extracts the required air from the outside air, but, just like an air-conditioner, it distributes it to the room via a separate indoor unit and airflow. Accordingly, it can also be used as an air conditioner in summer, providing a cooling function.

Air-to-air heat pumps fall into two categories, depending on the number of indoor units:

• The split system is the most common type of air-to-air heat pump, and for a long time the only type. In this system, only one indoor unit can be connected to each outdoor unit of the heat pump;
• A multi-split system, on the other hand, as the name suggests, is able to provide heat to several indoor units via a single outdoor unit. This allows the efficient heating of several rooms by a single unit, as well as the connection of different types of indoor unit (e.g. conventional wall unit and cassette type unit)

Air-to-air heat pumps have several advantages that make them a complete heating source:

• In general, an air-to-air heat pump consists of two main elements (outdoor and indoor units) as well as connecting elements. This makes the installation of the equipment both inexpensive and quick (often within a day for a simple split system);
• Efficient heating down to low temperatures: nowadays, even air-to-air heat pumps can operate efficiently enough to be able to heat a room even at low temperatures. This is most often the case with reliable heating down to -20°C, but also down to -25°C and even -30°C for some models;
• Cooling in summer: Unlike air-to-water and ground-to-water heat pumps, which can only provide cooling in some cases, an air-to-air heat pump can easily fulfil the duties of an air conditioner in summer. For this reason, people are increasingly choosing air-to-air heat pumps instead of air conditioners for their private homes and apartments, providing heating in addition to cooling.

The main disadvantage of an air-to-air heat pump is its inability to provide hot water, it can only be used for heating or cooling. Of course, at very low temperatures it will be more difficult for them to provide heating, but this disadvantage is common to all air source heat pumps. It is also worth bearing in mind that in Latvia's climate temperatures rarely drop below -20°C, and if this disadvantage is the main thing preventing you from buying an air-to-air heat pump, it is still worth considering these heat pumps.

In the next article, we will look at probably the most popular type of heat pump on the market - air-to-water heat pumps.

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