Heating and air conditioning of a country house - features, advantages and disadvantages

Air conditioners familiar to all of us remarkably create coolness on a hot day, but besides this, many modern models are also capable of heating indoor air. When choosing a model of air conditioner for a country house, it is useful to remember this, because using the air conditioner, in some regions, you can get an excellent alternative to traditional water heating. And most air conditioners offered to consumers today are already able to cope with this task with a bang.

A system equipped with a heat pump is called an inverter system, since there is the possibility of its functioning not only to create cold, but also to create heat - that is, the system is operable in two directions. Of course, such models are somewhat more expensive (for example, McQuay or Mitsubishi Electric brands), but payback in the off-season would be obvious, because the heater would require much more electricity to solve the same problems.

Split system

There are two ways to implement the operation of the air conditioner in the "heat" mode. Split systems are known to everyone, they are in autumn and spring, when the temperature outside the window is not lower than -10 ° С and not higher than + 10 ° С, they will fill the room with heat in a matter of minutes, and then even the disconnected heating will not violate your comfort. The economic benefit is quite substantial.

For example, an oil heater simply converts kilowatts of electricity to kilowatts of heat, while a split system will produce the same kilowatts of heat, consuming only a quarter of this energy from the outlet, and this is money saved.

The essence of this economical heating is a fundamentally different heating process than an electric heater. Here, electricity is not spent on heating directly, but on ensuring the operation of the compressor, fan and dampers.

The compressor works only to transfer heat to the room: in the outdoor unit, the refrigerant heats up, the compressor pumps it through pipes into the indoor unit, which is located indoors, and heating occurs. The fan directs the heated air through the dampers in the required direction, and it simply mixes with cold air.

Advantages of split systems

Warm air rushes toward the ceiling by natural convection flow, mixing with cold air, that is, it turns out that heat naturally enters your house, and you do not need to create this heat by taking away electricity through a wall outlet. Hence the savings. Of course, the indoor unit does not heat up as electric heater, but the mixed warm air will give the same effect, while the air in the house will not be burned out by spirals and will not be excessively dried by them.

Disadvantages of split systems

There is, however, a limitation. For regions where frosts sometimes occur, namely when the temperature outside is below -10 ° C, it is not recommended to use air conditioning for heating, for good reason. In such conditions, the performance of the split system will drop at least - twice, the thickened oil will load the compressor several times harder, that is, it will wear out excessively.

You will need the ozone-safe refrigerant R410A instead of the traditional R22, and then the compressor will need to be delivered more advanced, and such compressors are rare, not every company can offer one for your air conditioner.

Features of split systems

Some manufacturers of air conditioners carry out major research studies to achieve the operability of air conditioners at low temperatures. So, particularly effective split systems are able to warm the air inside the house at a temperature overboard to -20 ° C.

A special oil heating unit in the air conditioner solves the problem of thickening oil and eliminates the risk of compressor overload. The compressor with improved performance allows the use of R410A refrigerant.

Other nuances are possible with negative air temperatures outside. The drainage hole of the drainage hose is prone to freezing, and in this case, when the system is switched to the “cold” mode, condensate will flow into the house. In order to eliminate this unpleasant phenomenon, a low-power heater is again installed, which will protect the hose opening from freezing, and generally will not allow the condensate to freeze until it flows out.

On average, the temperature in winter, for example in the Moscow region, does not fall below -12 ° C for more than a week, so the overall efficiency of using an air conditioner for heating a house will at least not be lower than that of electric heating, and for most of the season it will undoubtedly be higher in terms of energy efficiency.

It is important that rare jumps in temperature down, for example, a sharp break of frost at -40 ° C, will not cause harm to the air conditioner, the air conditioner will turn off in an extreme case - the protective lock system will work. The task of choosing one or another model of air conditioner remains with the consumer.

Split system with heat pump

There is, as noted above, another way to use an air conditioner to generate heat in a private home. For this, the air conditioner is included in the system along with the heat pump. In this case, centralized or some other heating can be completely discarded as unnecessary, because instead it will serve as a thermal complex to provide the house with warm air.

The complex with a heat pump is developed individually for the house, taking into account the climatic characteristics of the region, and is quite suitable not only for heating, but also for hot water supply. Heating and hot water will be available in the cold season, and in the hot months such a system will effectively create “cold”, that is, a split system with a heat pump can work throughout the year, regardless of the temperature outside the window.

Advantages of split systems with a heat pump

Compared to traditional boiler houses using liquid, solid fuel, or gas, an air heat pump is environmentally friendly, at least there are no carbon dioxide emissions. The efficiency of the heat pump is extremely high: the efficiency coefficient reaches 500%, that is, for the kilowatt of electricity spent, the consumer will receive all 5 kilowatts of heat or cold in his house.

A progressive control system for such an inverter complex will allow the user to save significantly on electricity compared to other heat sources: boilers, electric heaters, heat generators, etc. The efficiency of traditional devices is not higher than 99% (heat / electricity), and the efficiency coefficient of heat pumps can be externally compare with the situation, as if the efficiency were equal to 500%.

Split systems based on heat pumps are guaranteed to extract heat from the surrounding air at a temperature of at least -20 ° C. Installation of the system in a country house will not require either complex excavation work or special facilities for structures. The external unit of the system will simply be located outside, and the internal unit will not require much space, not to mention the absence of a fuel tank and a chimney.

Features split systems with a heat pump

An external condensing unit will extract heat from the air from the street, passing it to freon. The temperature in the air-freon system will be increased, then the freon will be piped to the internal heat exchanger-evaporator of the freon-water system. Here, the hydraulic module will let hot water through the water heating system, through fan coils, through underfloor heating pipes, etc. For critical situations, an indirect heating water heater can be provided that connects directly to the heat pump circuit.