Types of Air Conditioning
There are two types of air conditioning systems:
Heat Pumps
Heat Pumps are a type of system that can be used to provide both heating and cooling.
They have an indoor unit, interconnecting pipes and an outdoor unit like cooling only air conditioning systems, but they also have a reversing valve; this pumps the refrigerant the other way around the system. So the outdoor unit cools the surrounding air, allowing the indoor unit to discharge heat into the room.
There are good reasons to install a heat pump:
- Most rooms usually require both cooling and heating
- Heat pumps are much more energy efficient than other types of heater, so they therefore reduce your running costs
Heat pumps achieve lower running costs for heating because rather than burning a fuel such as oil or gas to provide your heat, they are simply moving heat from one place to another.
The average Coefficient of Performance on a normal UK winter day is between 2.5 and 3. This means that for every 1kW of electricity used the heat pump will provide 2.5kW - 3kW of heating in a room.
Because a heat pump uses a refrigerant to heat the air, even if the outside temperature is as low as -15°C, it still at a temperature usable to heat buildings.
Heat pumps can extract heat from both air and water, achieving a room temperature of up to 28°C and may be controlled thermostatically between 19°C and 28°C. The system is completely automated and switches between heating and cooling as required.
Heat pump models are available on all split systems or packaged units we install. If you would like any further information on the heat pumps systems we can supply please contact us.
Cooling Only
Cooling only air conditioning cools the building by removing heat from the indoor air and transfering it outdoors. The systems uses a refrigerant to transfer the unwanted heat through a system of pipes to the outside unit. When it reaches the outside condensor a fan blows the outside air over the hot coil, transferring the heat from the refrigerant to outside air.
The majority of air conditioning units are split systems. They have a unit outside, which comprises of the condensing coils, compressor and a fan. There is also a unit located inside the building, this consists of an evaporator coil and fan. The fan distribute the air around the room.
There are also packaged systems, which house both the indoor and outdoor unit in one cabinet, usually located the roof or at ground level. With packaged systems the air is distributed around the property by a ducted system.
For more information on cooling only or heating & cooling systems please contact us.
