"Traditional" heating systems are now being installed less and less in new buildings, and the era of oil or gas heating is coming to an end. It is being replaced by one of the most energy-efficient and inexpensive methods of heating a house: the heat pump. But in addition to the heating function, a heat pump can also be used as an air conditioner to make it easier to endure in your own four walls on hot summer days. We have summarized these and many other facts about heat pump technology for you in this blog.
Basic knowledge: How a heat pump works
To get started, we want to briefly explain how the heat pump can produce a comfortable temperature. The heat pump uses ambient heat to introduce it into the interior of an apartment. It can draw this warmth either from the air, from water or from the earth. After this heat has been absorbed, it heats a refrigerant that is in a closed circuit in the device. This refrigerant is composed in such a way that even a small amount of heating turns it into gas, which in turn is compressed in the next step to reach a higher temperature. This is particularly important because in the colder seasons the ambient heat alone is of course not sufficient to warm up a living space without further treatment. After this compression, the heat output varies depending on the device: either the gas is liquefied again and fed into the heating water, or the heat pump outputs the heat directly via heated air.
The Kältebringer split air conditioners are air-to-air heat pumps, which means they draw heat from the ambient air and give it out again directly. This has the great advantage that no complex technology is required, such as with a heat pump that draws its heat from the ground. With one of our systems, you can easily cool your living space in summer and heat it in winter. Thanks to smart functions and automatic adjustment to the outside temperature, Kaltbringer air conditioners do not use any unnecessary electricity.
Cooling with a heat pump: how it works!
Many still assume that a heat pump is just heating, but this is not the case. Many heat pumps can also be used as air conditioning systems without any problems, which is now also becoming more popular in the European latitudes. The principle remains almost the same, it just turns around: The heat pump extracts the heat from the room and transports it outside. This creates a significant temperature difference in summer.
A somewhat more effective solution for cooling a room is active cooling using a coolant. The Kaltbringer split air conditioning system directs the warm air into a circuit in which it is cooled down using a coolant. This cold air is then released into the environment, so a room can be cooled down to a comfortable temperature within a few minutes. The biggest advantage here is the fast cooling, the heat pump does not manage to air-condition a room so quickly when the outside temperatures are high.
What does a heat pump look like?
Modern heat pumps come in many different forms. It is often not possible to tell from the outside whether a house or apartment is being heated or air-conditioned using this modern technology. Especially in new buildings, heat pumps are usually installed today, which can draw the existing heat from the ground. This has the great advantage that even in winter there is still enough temperature to heat a house, because from a certain depth the ground always has the same temperature. A larger structure is required for this type of heat pump, as it generates its energy using a geothermal probe. The heat pump is often installed under the house in new buildings, but in some cases you can also see the control unit next to the house. The heat produced is then fed into the heating circuit in the house using pipes.
Another way in which heat pumps can occur is that of classic air conditioning. These then consist of an indoor and an outdoor unit, which you can now see more and more often on the outside of houses. Here, the outdoor unit extracts the heat from the ambient air in order to compress it in the system and release it into the room air. With the help of a coolant, the same device can then also be used to effectively air-condition a room in summer. Because of this versatility, this type of heat pump is one of the most popular. In addition, such an air conditioning unit can also be installed later, planning during construction is not necessary. The purchase costs are low, a high-quality air conditioning system from Kältebringer is available with very good equipment for 1200 euros. Installation takes only a few hours, while setting up a complete heating system can quickly take several days or weeks.
Electricity consumption: This is what an air conditioning system with a heat pump costs in operation
Due to the current sharp rise in gas and oil prices, "normal" heating has become almost twice as expensive as in previous years. The heat pump is one of the cheapest and most environmentally friendly ways to control the temperature of a living space. If you choose a split air conditioner with heat pump technology, you have to expect the following operating costs:
First of all, the costs for installation and maintenance: thanks to clear operating instructions and additional videos on how to install a Kältebringer split air conditioning system, installation is child's play for a specialist company. It usually only takes a few hours and will cost you around 200 euros, in many cases even less. The maintenance costs amount to around 100 euros per year if you only use it in summer, and you have to reckon with about twice as much if you use it all year round. Wear parts are already included here, but air conditioning systems usually work for several years without defective parts if they are cleaned regularly.
Kaltbringer's bestseller, a split air conditioning system with a cooling capacity of almost 300 watts, consumes around 189 kWh of electricity per year just for cooling. At a current average electricity price of 37 cents, this corresponds to costs of around 70 euros. If the device is also used as a heat pump for heating, the consumption is around 90 kWh per calendar year, i.e. a total of around 360 euros. As you can see, a heat pump is significantly cheaper than traditional heating and also protects the climate.
Find out today about the different options from Kaltbringer to regulate the temperature of your living space. With the help of a split air conditioning system, you can prevent high heating costs and also ensure a pleasant indoor climate in summer.
