How to carry out heating with air conditioning

Any air conditioner is designed to cool the air in the room. But in the cold season, for many users, this device works on heating. However, before you start operating equipment in this way, you need to understand how to start the heating with air conditioning correctly. This information will help prevent mistakes in the operation of expensive equipment.

Basic ideas about the heating function of the air conditioner

The principle of operation of the split system for heating is the lowering (!) Of the air temperature taken from the street. Air will be taken, for example, with a temperature value of -16, and given back to an even colder state,reaching up to -25. Difference is used for heat transfer: the received warm air gets inside the room.

However, will the device have enough strength for the full implementation of such a task? It is important to know that if the temperature on the street is significantly lower than zero, then the compressor simply does not have enough strength to warm the air - work will begin to wear. And if the equipment works at a maximum, it is already fraught with the risk of breakage.

So the first condition is temperature outside the window. Using the air conditioner as a heater is appropriate for regions with a mild climate. And for most of our country such equipment should be used only in the off-season, in the autumn or spring period.

The operation of an air conditioner for heating in winter can be dangerous and freezing drain hose. In this case, the condensate will begin to flow into the building. Today, manufacturers are trying to solve the problem by installing a 20-watt heater in the technique. The blocking system also works well: the equipment shuts off when the temperature drops sharply.

The effectiveness of this process

How economical is it to turn on the air conditioner for heating? This is quite economical, because the work is based on the heat pump.The numbers also point to this: 2.5–4.2 kW of heat will be output from each kilowatt of electricity. This is with regard to the temperature range from 0-5˚С. The system efficiency is calculated up to -15˚С (and for some models this possibility is provided up to -30 degrees).

If you compare the use of the air conditioner with an oil heater, then the latter does not seem to be economical at all: it goes into 1 kW of electricity, producing only 0.95 kW of heat.

So how effective is air conditioning? It affects electricity cost. Where it is cheaper to heat with gas, it is economically inexpedient to install an air conditioner in the winter for heating. But in the regions (countries) with expensive electricity, it will be rational to leave climate equipment in heating mode (but again, with a reservation on weather conditions).

Advantages and disadvantages of a split-system for heating

To heat or not using an air conditioner - each user decides for himself in private. But if the decision turned out to be positive, then you can be sure that the air will not dry out, as when using heating appliances. There are other advantages:

• environmental friendliness (no CO2 emissions);
• heat will be issued three times more than consumed electricity.

But besides improving the microclimate, there are also "pitfalls". You should definitely be aware of them with constant use.

1. Device wear will happen 3-5 times faster. This will occur due to thickened oil, which will lose its properties.
2. There is a tendency to replace the refrigerant - the application will be safer for the ozone layer R410. This requires the installation of more advanced compressors.
3. The performance of the device will be half the nominal.
4. Air conditioning for heating in the winter often fails.

The best option

A good solution would be to purchase devices with inverter. Such equipment is able to heat the room even at -25˚С outside the window. The fact that it will actually additionally attach the hydronic module block to the construction of an inverter device for heating also captivates. This element can be located both outside and inside the building.

1. If a outdoor hydraulic unit, then the technique will work on the familiar type of heat pump. In this case, it makes sense to use air conditioning only as an additional source of heat (or if it is assumed non-permanent residence in the house).If the visit to the house is irregular, then in winter it is necessary to fully preserve (disconnect and warm) the entire system of the device.
2. If a the hydraulic unit is inside, it will be possible to connect the equipment to traditional radiators or “warm floor”. This principle of operation of the air conditioner for heating will require initial costs during the installation stage, but the reward will be full heating. Another plus of these models is good maintainability.

How to choose the right model

From the correct selection of the model will depend on how the air conditioner with heating. It is important to pay attention here. on the characteristics of the COP (ratio of heating power to consumed) and EER (cooling / consumption ratio):

• COP in home models should be 2.8-4;
• for an EER, this figure may be 2.5-3.5 units.

The class of energy efficiency of the device also matters: in the case of the most priority and economical A, the optimal indicators should be from 3.2 to 3.6 for COP and 2.2-2.4 EER.

Regardless of the recommendations, it will be necessary to mount this type of equipment individually, taking into account the characteristics of the room. In this case, it will be important to calculate the possible heat losses that come from windows and doors. It is in these places and it is reasonable to create a heat curtain.It is a little about management: the equipment will switch either from the panel, or manually. Heating can be set automatically.

Operation Tips

It is important to know such nuances: the first few minutes the device should work as an air conditioner, not a heater.. This is necessary in order to keep the outdoor unit warm and to thaw the ice that may have formed in the drainage. The following times this point will regulate the ventilation speed. Also, many models have a special DeIce functionwhich will allow not to confuse the mode of the correct inclusion.

And here are some more tips to help improve the performance of technology.

1. Heated drainage will allow water not to freeze and remove condensate.
2. When the compressor is stopped, the heater can be turned on, which will warm the oil and prevent it from thickening. In this case, the refrigerant cannot flow into the sump.
3. If the outdoor unit has fan controller, it will catch up with the current temperature and prevent the indoor unit from freezing.

So, the heat from the air conditioner turns out to be much more economically efficient than from other devices (at a cost of 1 kW, the consumer gets 4 kW).All energy goes precisely to the movement of warm air masses. Many modern devices guarantee good performance even at thirty degrees of frost. However, any split-system remains only an addition to the main heating and is not yet ready to take full load on the comfortable provision of a warm atmosphere in the dwelling.