Today majority of Ukrainians are merely familiar with the name "heat pump", however, we constantly use one in everyday life. Heat pump working principle is very similar to that of a household refrigerator. Refrigeration is a process of constant heat transferring from freezer and items to be cooled into the surrounding air. A heat pump operates on the reverse cycle principle.

A Heat Pump is a device that extracts the low temperature heat from ground, water, air and then warms it up to a higher temperature, making it suitable for heating and supplying hot water.

A Heat Pump enables up to 80% energy saving, compared to a conventional heat generator. “Floor heating” system provides additional 10-15% energy saving, compared to traditional “radiator” heating system. Moreover, a heat pump COP, that is the ratio of the spent energy to the generated heat energy, mainly depends on the heating system

The lower the specified temperature of a heat transfer agent, the higher efficiency of a heat pump. Due to technical restrictions, the temperature of water being driven up to the heating system from a heat pump can`t be higher than 55°C, and the return water temperature shall not exceed 50°C.

Radiator heating system presupposes having special calculations made for a heat pump installation. There is no need for any calculations using the “floor heating” system, because it suits the heat pump heating system perfectly!

Given the correct calculations for the radiator heating system, “floor heating” system usage is still more efficient because refrigerant temperature of 30...40 °С is not enough for the conventional radiators. These 30...40 °С account for 20…25 % energy saving!!!

A Heat Pump is a source of energy for your heating and hot water systems and cooling source for air conditioning. The main difference between a heat pump and other heat energy generators (electrical, gas and diesel generators) is that 80% of energy is received from the environment. A heat pump "draws" heat that was accumulated in soil, rocks, lakes during the warm season.

When one should choose a heat pump as a main heating source in a house? What are its advantages? First of all, choosing a heat pump you choose your comfort and warmth. In Ukraine heat energy generation costs depend on “fuel” being used: natural gas used to be the cheapest, it is followed by diesel oil and electricity. But their prices are very volatile.

Ground – water (ground source heat pump)

Ground is capable of retaining solar heat for quite a long time, thus allowing the same temperature level throughout the year. Given this fact, a heat pump has high Coefficient of Performance. Environmental heat is being transferred along with water and refrigerant. Ground heat can be extracted using a horizontal collector or a vertical one. The former involves laying piping system at 1…1,2m depth.  Minimum distance between pipes shall equal   to 1 m. The pipeline would not affect the plants growing above it. This type of collector is suitable for buildings located on a relatively large lots. Heat extraction capacity depends on soil properties – the damper the soil, the higher the capacity.

A Vertical collector is a system of pipes that are to be immersed into a deep well (50 ... 150 meters). Temperature is always stable (around 10 °С ) in deep layers of ground, that is why this collector is more efficient. A Vertical collector installation does not require large lots and this fact is its main advantage. However, drilling costs account for the largest expenditures. Our company carries out drilling, thus ensuring the lowest price.

Water – water (water source heat pump)

Surface water (rivers, lakes) or groundwater (wells) present a heat source for a heat pump. And this type of heat pumps is the most efficient,compared to all other systems. Water is being absorbed into a heat pump through an intake well and then returned into earth through a rejection well. If there is an ice-free river or lake, pipes can be laid at it`s bottom.

Air – water (air source heat pump)

Air is particularly easy to use as a heat source, as it is present everywhere in unlimited quantities. A heat pump of this type does not require drilling, which is a great advantage as it significantly reduces the initial investments. Until recently, heat pumps of this type had a major drawback - decreasing temperature reduced their efficiency. But Octopus heat pumps applying recent developments can operate at -42 ° C (if ambient temperature  = -42 ° C, the COP = 1).

Heat pump working principle

Rocks, soil, water or air may present a heat source. Cooled refrigerant is being heated by a few degrees passing through a pipeline, laid in the ground (lake).

Inside a heat pump, refrigerant flowing through a heat exchanger, the so-called evaporator, delivers the extracted heat into the inner circuit of a heat pump. Inner circuit of a heat pump is filled with refrigerant, which has a low boiling point. Passing through the evaporator, the refrigerant is converted from liquid to vapour. The convertion occurs at low pressure and temperature of -5 °C. Refrigerant vapour flows from the evaporator into the compressor, where it is turned into a high temperature and high-pressure compressed gas.

Then the now-hot gas gets into the secondary heat exchanger – condenser. In a condenser heat exchange between hot gas and refrigerant from the reverse piping system takes place. Refrigerant gives back its heat into the heating system, thus it is being cooled and converted into liquid again, and heated water is delivered to heating devices. Having passed through a condenser, liquid refrigerant may become even more cooled, and water temperature may be increased by means of installing a sub-cooler. Still refrigerant pressure remains high. Pressure decreases when refrigerant passes through a pressure reducing valve. Refrigerant gets into evaporator and the cycle is repeated again.

Pay-off period of a system constitutes 3…7 years depending on the system chosen, and service life constitutes 15…20 years till major maintenance. In addition, energy resources prices tend to grow, thus the pay-off period will be even shorter eventually.

It should be noted, that useful life of a well or a ground collector constitutes at least 100 years, and a heat pump`s wear-prone parts are - a compressor (15…20 years) and pumps driving refrigerant through. Having chosen a heat pump, you get a reliable, entirely non-combustible, eco-friendly heating and hot water supply systems with a long service life, that hardly require any maintenance.

A heat pump works without fossil fuel, consequently poisonous oxides CO, СO₂, NO_х, SO₂ , PbO₂ are not evolved. So the area around your house will be clean, free from sulphuric acid, nitric, phosphoric and benzoic acids. Freon which is being used in heat pumps is ozone-friendly and does not contain chlorocarbon.