n Hydronics
Heat pumps offer a potential growth market for hydronics with air-to-water technology By Roy Collver
Several air-to-water heat pumps on the market now contain all the refrigeration equipment as a sealed package entirely within the outdoor unit.
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Plumbing & HVAC – May/June 2022
In the last issue of Plumbing & HVAC magazine, Bruce Nagy wrote an article concerning the latest industry trends, which were posed as a survey to our readers. The top two responses to the question, “What will grow in the next five years,” was hydronics and air-source heat pumps (ASHP). I am sure most respondents were thinking air-to-air heat pumps would be replacing gas and oil furnaces, but air-to-water heat pumps are going to become a bigger part of the hydronics business. As an installing or service contractor, it is pertinent to understand how this technology works, how to install and service them, and how to design a hydronics system around them. Some of the barriers that might be stopping companies from fully divulging into the hydronics industry might be due to a lack of proper licensing to perform the basic electrical installations and upgrades, basic refrigeration installations and service, and
The hydronics industry can expect air-towater heat pumps to play a larger role in the coming future. lastly, advanced electrical troubleshooting for low-voltage controls up to high-voltage equipment.
Not enough of a spark Substituting an ASHP for a boiler will seldom be a plug-and-play procedure, although it is starting to get easier with some of the newer equipment being offered. The advent of lower temperature “warm water” hydronics with the adoption of condensing boiler technology and supply water temperature mixing has made the substitution easier in many cases. Yet there can still be major issues with equipment short-cycling due to the variable loading of some hydronic systems. Most compressive
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