Advantages of Water-Source Heat Pumps

Let's take a look at some of the biggest advantages of using a water-source heat pump.

Get Simultaneous Heating and Cooling with WSHPs

When you opt for water-source heat pumps, you have the ability to get simultaneous heating and cooling, which is necessary for many commercial buildings due to a demand of tenants. Some may need cooling and at the same time some may need heating. Restaurants also need this capability, as well as office buildings. Heating and cooling simultaneously is important for many places and with the best water-source heating pumps you get that feature. The best WSHPs take the heat out of an area that is rejecting it and uses it in another area where it is in demand. And in general, energy recovery and transport is an area where WSHPs thrive. Water is an ideal medium to transport energy without any of the negative consequences of using a synthetic or flammable refrigerant to move energy, especially in the vicinity of occupied spaces.

Small Amount of Refrigerant Used

Water-source heating pumps have a great ability to achieve highly efficient operations and performs heat recovery while operating with a limited amount of refrigerant charge. High system refrigerant charges are a potential safety hazard, since a refrigerant can displace oxygen in closed rooms, which can lead to choking. A WSHP works without fear of this happening due to the small quantity of refrigerant charge needed in order for it to work efficiently. There are systems in place to ensure that the room can use the WSHP and safely install it without fear of the displacement of oxygen. The bigger the room, the less of a fear of it happening. But due to the safety standards involved, it is nearly a non-issue with WSHPs.

For example, a VRF system requires higher quantities of refrigerant charges, which makes it more hazardous in certain situations. In a VRF system, the refrigerant is not only used within the central units and their internal mini-split units, but the refrigerant is also present in the pipework and branch controllers between these units. In order to function properly, some VRF systems actually require two or three pipe-network designs to work and all of these pipes will be carrying this refrigerant. This copper piping then presents an increased safety risk due to the higher charge of refrigerant in the system, the higher number of connection points that can fail, and the overall danger it poses if there is a leak.

Thermal Energy Can Be Efficiently and Safely Transported

With a WSHP, the thermal energy can be economically, efficiently, and safely transported to wherever water can be pumped. Since moving water is easy and safe, the WSHP can be applied to any situation from a single condo unit to a large office space.

WSHPs vs Traditional Air-Source Units

The BTUs of cooling load and the heat compression in the circuit of a traditional air-source unit is rejected to the atmosphere through the outdoor condensing unit. The quality of this heat is low and it is not economical in an air-source heat pump to recover this energy, which is blown into the atmosphere and lost. When you compare that to a water-source heating pump, these BTUs are rejected into a common water loop, which acts as a reserve of this energy and can be easily transported to wherever there is a demand for heat.

In more traditional units, energy gets lost and wasted, but with a WSHP that energy is captured and used elsewhere, which also offsets new energy demands. And the overall building energy consumption is decreased and no BTU is left behind.

WSHPs vs VRF Systems

A VRF system has a limited ability to transport energy over long distances, because it uses a refrigerant close to the saturation temperature in the copper pipes as the transport medium. On top of that, there are also compressor and power drop concerns with pumping as much refrigerant as it does. In addition, there are also a large number of copper pipe connections that need to be made in the field in a VRF system. So if there is a refrigerant leak anywhere on the line, it is very difficult to detect, isolate, re-braze, re-vacuum, and re-commission the system, which is dangerous.

When you compare this to a water-source heat pump, all of the refrigerant lines are contained within the unit and installed and leak-tested in a controlled factory setting. And the energy in a WSHP system is moved by water in normal plumbing systems, which is much safer and easier to maintain. And there are no piping-distance limits.

Get in touch with NorWest Air Conditioning & Heating Service today to learn more about water-source heating pumps.

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