Solutions

Smart Hot Water System

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Pool Heating

One of the most basic and commonly applied purposes of heat pumps include heating water for large outdoor swimming pools. A vast amount of water with large surface area for heat loss, substantial amount of energy is needed to not only heat up the water, but to also maintain its temperature.

Pool heating heat pumps are usually capable of attaining a COP of 3 to 4. In other words, replacing fossil-fuelled heaters with electric heat pump will cut the energy consumption by 60% to 80% while maintaining the same pool temperature. The addition of thermal insulating pool covers to swimming pool is also encouraged for further energy saving, especially in outdoor pools.

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Retrofitting Hot Water Systems

Unlike swimming pool heating, the temperature required in hot water supply is much higher, and consistent supply is often needed all year round. When using traditional boilers, unnecessarily large energy bills are paid to make up for the efficiency shortfall. In the long run, the resources spent could very well be way higher than what it takes to adopt a heat pump for the hot water supply.

It is however understood that replacing the entire water heating system in commercial application may be too big a project to initiate. Therefore, another very common application of heat pumps is retrofitting existing hot water systems. Many of the existing equipment, piping, or even some of the heaters could remain in use; the introduction of heat pumps into the existing system is an improvement instead of a start-over, after which an energy saving by half or even more can be expected, depending on the extent of replacement.

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Heat Recovery

In the instance of an air-source heat pump for hot water supply, water is heated as the heat is transferred from the hot refrigerant into the water on the supply side (condenser side). At the opposite end of the cycle, at the source (evaporator side), heat is transferred from air into the expanded, cool refrigerant, releasing cooled air as a result. Should the cool air be released into where cooling is needed, e.g. kitchen, basic heat recovery can be achieved.

To fully utilise this effect into assisting HVAC systems, water-source heat pump is more often used, where cooled water can lower the cooling load in air conditioning side, reducing the energy needed in that regard. Adding up the heating and cooling output, a combined COP of 5 to 8 can often be achieved, reducing huge amount of carbon emission.